Spanish Congress demands Sánchez resign in unprecedented vote, but PM refuses and challenges Junts to formal censure

The vote

On Thursday, the Congress of Deputies passed three points of a motion tabled by the conservative People's Party (PP). The text calls on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign because of the "accumulation of investigations into corruption cases" involving political appointees and his personal circle, and urges him to submit to a confidence vote. The motion carried with 178 votes in favour and 171 against, after the Catalan separatist party Junts, whose seven MPs were decisive in Sánchez's 2023 investiture, sided with the PP, Vox and the regionalist UPN.

Two earlier points demanding immediate elections and the resignation of the entire government had been blocked by the congressional bureau, controlled by Sánchez's Socialists and their left-wing ally Sumar.

The same chamber that gave him the confidence to govern has just formally asked him to resign as prime minister. Any democrat, any European prime minister, must follow the will and decision of the chamber.

Sánchez's response

The government insists the motion has no legal force. Justice Minister Félix Bolaños called it "zero political effect" and stressed that only the prime minister can decide on a resignation or a confidence vote. Sánchez himself, according to government sources, told Junts spokesperson Míriam Nogueras the day before the vote: "If you want to present a censure motion with the PP and Vox, go ahead, but stop the theatrics."

This vote has zero political effect.

The executive believes Junts will never back a formal censure motion that would install Feijóo with Vox's support, because of the political cost in Catalonia. Instead, Junts has floated a so-called 'Starmer way', replacing Sánchez with another candidate from within the investiture majority, but the government dismisses this as a bid for attention.

Junts's shifting strategy

Junts's unpredictability has become a headache for both the government and the PP. In the space of 48 hours, the party went from demanding Sánchez's resignation to make way for a new candidate, to voting with the right on Thursday, while the day before it had abstained on a similar motion in the Senate. PP leaders admit they "never know which way they will jump."

There is no understanding them. One day they abstain in the Senate on an almost identical vote, the next they vote with the PP and Vox in Congress. Then they sink investments that are good for Catalonia but support other laws in the same session. You don't know who to talk to, what to negotiate — it's all incomprehensible.

Junts insists it will not join a censure motion that includes Vox, and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) has also ruled out such an alliance. Feijóo, however, is keeping the option alive as a pressure tool, while acknowledging that he currently lacks the numbers.

A historic parliamentary rebuke

Thursday's vote marks the first time since Spain's return to democracy that both chambers have passed motions calling for the prime minister's resignation. The Senate had approved a similar text earlier. Although non-binding, the political symbolism is heavy: the same parliamentary arithmetic that made Sánchez prime minister in 2023 has now turned against him.

Feijóo said his party would "take very good note of this indiscipline of the executive towards the legislature" and would study further steps, without committing to a censure motion. The PP is also banking on a possible future indictment of the Socialist Party itself to increase pressure.

A legislature in paralysis

The vote came a day after Sánchez appeared before Congress to address the corruption allegations surrounding his administration. The government has been unable to pass a budget for three years, and the PP argues it is merely "resisting" rather than governing. With Junts now voting with the opposition on key motions, the investiture bloc is fractured, but the numbers for an alternative majority remain elusive.