Susana Díaz may be President of Andalucía after all next week, after her two predecessors Manuel Chaves & José Griñán both announced they would quit politics at the next elections.
It is impossible for Susana to become President at next weeks investiture without the support of some of the opposition parties, and both Podemos & Cuidadanos have drawn “lines in the sand” which Susana’s PSOE party have to agree to first.
The first of the demands was that the two ex-Presidents, both up to their necks in allegations of stealing hundreds of millions of euros from public coffers, be thrown to the judicial wolves. Currently they can only be tried by the National Court, as they are protected by parliamentary privilege. Podemos & Cuidadanos want that privilege withdrawn so they can be tried as the crooks they allegedly are. More on the list of demands here.
And it seems the PSOE have done the unthinkable: caved in and withdrawn support from two of their biggest heavyweights. Although officially they are quitting “for personal reasons”. Otherwise, it was possible that P&C would have forced this all the way to a new regional election in September, an election that would only benefit their parties.
Will the PSOE cave into the rest of the demands? We’ll know by Monday….