Antonio del Rey |
Madrid (EFE).- A second ballot box awaits next Sunday at all the polling stations to elect 208 senators, who, although they do not have the flash and public projection of their colleagues, the deputies, also count on the political map, because the Senate is the legislative chamber and controls the Government just as Congress does.
There are exceptions, because the leader of the opposition and candidate of the PP for the Presidency of the Government in the 23J elections, Alberto Núñez Feijóo is a senator, like most of the members of the leadership of his party that during the last year has made the Senate the true headquarters of its strategy towards La Moncloa.
It should be noted that they are regional senators, so they are not part of the quota of 208 seats at stake next Sunday; The institution also has 57 representatives designated by the parliaments of the communities.
Feijóo, for example, was appointed by the Galician Parliament after assuming the leadership of the PP after the fall of Pablo Casado and leaving the Presidency of the Xunta to dedicate himself to national politics.
This other group may also experience changes, since after the regional elections on May 28, the legislative chambers have been renewing their representatives in the Upper House, but what will be decided on Sunday is who will be the 208 directly elected senators with a seat in the Bailén street hemicycle.
And yes, they are elected directly by the citizens and on open lists, without the ties implied by the closed party lists of Congress; up to a maximum of three per constituency.
Sepia ballot to mark the Senate
Nothing prevents the voter, who has to mark their preferred candidates on the sepia ballot paper, from choosing to mark the names of two or even three different parties, even if it is not frequent.
The quota of autonomous senators tends to give ideological wealth to a Chamber that seeks to bring the voice of the territories to national sovereignty, and in fact in this last legislature there has been a left-wing parliamentary group made up solely of autonomous senators from different parties and origins.
Another thing is what happens with the 208 that are voted on election day, a block where nationalists and independentists can get senators in their respective territories.
For the national forces, the distribution system of three seats by constituency complicates the entry of non-majority parties, and it is usual for them to be distributed between the PP and PSOE.
In the last legislatures Podemos was left without representation and Vox only obtained a minimal presence in the Senate despite being the third force in Congress.
In the cast, the big parties win
In this distribution, the big parties always win, which have an easier time achieving a bulky result and even approaching an absolute majority.
In any case, on Sunday a great renovation is expected in the Territorial Chamber, both in terms of people – the candidacies change and a great “exodus” of senators to Congress is undertaken – and the political weight that it may have in the next legislature.
It is clear that Feijóo’s march to the Plaza de las Cortes will be noticed, either as the next head of the Government or as still head of the opposition; His face to face with President Pedro Sánchez have put the Senate in the front line and have given it a leading role that he had not had since the approval of 155.