Feijóo accuses Sánchez of 'caudillismo' as Congress motion demands confidence vote
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo told a PP congress in Barcelona that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is governing against the will of parliament, a stance he described as 'caudillismo not seen in 50 years', after 178 MPs urged a confidence vote.
The most direct parliamentary challenge to Pedro Sánchez's premiership escalated on Saturday as the Partido Popular leader used a Catalan party gathering to accuse the prime minister of a form of strongman rule that he said has no place in a democracy.
A hostile vote in Congress
On Thursday the lower house approved a PP motion that calls on Sánchez to face a confidence vote and, if he loses, to resign. The text passed with 178 votes from the PP, Vox, Junts, Coalición Canaria and UPN, against 171 from the PSOE, Sumar and other left-wing and regional groups. Sánchez has dismissed the motion and remains in office, a decision Feijóo described as governing 'against Congress'.
The absolute majority of Congress has asked him to leave, and what the people's representatives say slides right off him.
'Caudillismo' and corruption
Feijóo, addressing the XVI Congress of the Catalan PP in Barcelona, said Sánchez's refusal to acknowledge the vote amounted to an authoritarian style not witnessed since the end of the Franco era.
He has been governing against Congress for two days. That is not democratic; it is characteristic of a caudillismo that has not been seen in Spain for 50 years.
The opposition leader also tied his attack to corruption allegations surrounding the government. He said he never imagined seeing a prime minister 'surrounded by corruption, humiliating the partners who sustain him' and urged citizens not to normalise the degradation of public life.
I have never seen this level of disrespect and these levels of corruption. I never thought I would see a president whom the very chamber that appointed him has just asked, by an absolute majority, to resign and whose response is to laugh.
A push for a motion of censure
Feijóo turned directly to Junts, the Catalan separatist party whose votes made the Thursday motion possible. He acknowledged Junts had joined the majority demanding elections but argued that backing an actual constructive censure motion would be 'better and considerably more responsible'.
Sooner or later I will give my country a decent government. The next general election is a battle for democracy and for our institutions.
He said he would pursue a change of government 'with or without' Junts's help, while making clear that the decisive lever lies with Catalonia.
- Congress approves PP motion urging Sánchez to submit to a confidence vote, 178 votes to 171.
- Feijóo tells PP Catalonia congress that Sánchez is governing 'against Congress' and labels his approach 'caudillismo not seen in 50 years.'
PP Catalan leadership renewed
The congress also saw Alejandro Fernández re‑elected as president of the Catalan PP with 97 percent of the vote, a moment of internal unity for a party that has struggled in the region. Feijóo framed Catalonia as the key to unlocking a national political renewal.
