If Unidos Podemos (UP) does not find a legal nook at the last minute to prevent it, Pablo Iglesias will have to leave the Government much earlier than planned and will not be able to use that platform until the campaign starts in Madrid, as did Salvador Illa, who received hence the criticism of UP.
Madrid's electoral law, which is different from the Catalan one, obliges the vice president to leave the government in a maximum of one week, on March 30, next Tuesday.
Therefore, everything indicates that that day will be his last Council of Ministers.
UP does not officially confirm that the decision to advance the withdrawal has been taken, but various government sources agree that the text is very clear and does not leave the vice president many options other than leaving office on Tuesday or earlier.
The Iglesias team, which had not foreseen this important inconvenience and has been surprised, has requested legal reports to be sure that there is no choice but to make the decision, but all the sources consulted in La Moncloa take it for granted.
The leader of Podemos will have to leave the second vice presidency of the Executive before his party presents the candidacy for the Madrid regional elections, a term that begins on March 26 and ends on the 31st of this month.
Madrid's electoral law considers “ineligible”, among other institutional figures, the President of the Government and the ministers and secretaries of State.
And for these purposes, it provides that the qualification of "ineligible" will be granted to those who are "the same day of presentation of their candidacy."
With this premise, established in articles 3 and 4 of the aforementioned rule, Iglesias should leave the Government, at the latest, the day before the presentation of the lists before the Provincial Electoral Board.
This early departure implies that Iglesias will not be able, as he had announced, to fight in the Government before his departure to agree on the reform of the housing law, which is still far from reaching an internal agreement.
PSOE sources indicate that this reform will not be taken to Congress until it is agreed, because it would not be reasonable to risk a parliamentary defeat of that caliber, so everything indicates that the rule will be postponed until after the May 4 elections. .
The hasty departure of Iglesias not only takes away the showcase of the Government in full pre-campaign in Madrid, but also forces this formation to quickly reorganize around the new power structure, with Yolanda Díaz as third vice president and Ione Belarra as new minister of Social rights.
This problem, which had not been detected by the Iglesias team, will therefore have immediate political consequences for the Government but above all for the UP electoral campaign itself, since this formation counted on Iglesias remaining as vice president at least until the 14th. of April.