Dhe political gap between the two camps could hardly be greater. One of the best-known former communists is running for the post of head of government on behalf of the Spanish right-wing populists. On Monday, the Vox party tabled the sixth motion of no confidence in the history of Spanish democracy in Parliament. As with the constructive no-confidence vote in Germany, an opposing candidate must stand up for this, who, if successful, would immediately take over the office from the socialist Pedro Sánchez. Ramón Tamames, who turns 90 in November, should do what only Pedro Sánchez himself has managed to do in Spain. In 2018, the socialist drove the conservative PP party from power with the only successful motion of no confidence so far.
For Vox, the respected economist is a “wild card”. He will be given a free hand to settle accounts with the left-wing minority government, which will bring maximum media attention to the right-wing populists in parliament for at least one day. For months they have been struggling with falling poll numbers. Tamames is said to have done his duty with that: he doesn’t have any real chances. Two and a half years ago, Vox chairman Santiago Abascal started his own application and failed. At the beginning of the big election year, Tamames is only supposed to give a guest appearance with the right-wing populists.
A respected intellectual
With the help of the respected intellectual, Vox also wants to try to get out of the right-wing corner and put itself at the forefront of a cross-party opposition. Sánchez splits through his cooperation with Catalan separatists, accuses Tamames of the head of government and finds friendly words for the right-wing populists: “They are by no means fascists. And certainly not racists. If anything, you could call them Spanish nationalists.”
He himself had joined the Communist Party in 1956, of which he was a member of the Central Committee and for which he sat in Parliament as a representative of the Eurocommunist line at the end of the 1970s. He was at the forefront of protests against the Franco dictatorship in the student movement and went to prison twice for his political beliefs. He later left the communists and was one of the founders of the left-wing alliance “Izquierda Unida”, which he also represented in parliament.
The professor’s more than 30 books include the standard work “Estructura Económica”, which came to 26 editions. He also presented a draft of the democratic constitution. In later years, the multilingual sporting and musical polymath, who is a member of Amnesty International and Greenpeace, drew attention to himself with ecological views. He obviously has big plans at the lectern in Parliament. If he hadn’t accepted Vox’s invitation, he would “maybe regret it for the rest of his life,” he said in an interview. Some commentators therefore accused him of “megalomania”. Most critics, be it from the right or from the left, first express their great respect for Tamames. The leader of the conservative People’s Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, went to see him personally to dissuade him from his plan.
The PP and the liberal Ciudadanos party do not want to vote for the motion of no confidence, which can only rely on the votes of the 52 Vox MPs. On Monday, however, that did not stop Vox chairman Abascal from proposing May 28 as “super election Sunday”. If Sánchez fails, parliamentary elections should be held at the same time as local and regional elections, he said. For the newspaper “Periódico de España”, on the other hand, a “parliamentary sleaze theater” is just beginning, which Vox is staging for propaganda purposes, as if a biscuit or chocolate brand were being marketed.