The general secretary of PSOE-A, María Jesús Montero; the former president of the Andalusian Parliament Jesús Aguirre (PP-A), and the journalist Álvaro Zancajo (Vox) will take possession of their seats in the Senate this Tuesday, September 8, after being designated by the Andalusian Parliament as autonomous representatives following the elections of May 17.
Alongside María Jesús Montero, Jesús Aguirre, and Álvaro Zancajo, the Plenary of the Andalusian Chamber elected last July as senators by autonomous designation the former deputies of PP-A Francisco Javier Oblaré and Virginia Pérez, as well as María Pastor at the proposal of Vox. In addition, the socialists Juan Espadas and Susana Díaz --both former general secretaries of PSOE-A-- and Javier Arenas (PP), who were already part of the Senate in the previous Andalusian legislature, were re-elected.
Juan Espadas will continue to serve as spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Senate, and in this new stage, he will have María Jesús Montero as deputy spokesperson. That responsibility has been held until now by Javier Arenas in the Popular Group.
According to the agenda consulted by Europa Press, the Plenary of the Senate will hold its first session after the summer break this Tuesday, September 8, starting at 16:00 hours. The session will open with a block of "Preliminary Matters" which includes, as the second point, the oath of the Constitution by the senators designated by the Andalusian Parliament.
The Senate Regulations establish in its article 12 that the senators designated by the autonomous communities must "take the oath or promise of allegiance" to the Constitution, in the same terms as the other members of the Chamber at the beginning of their mandate.
In that procedure, the president of the Senate will ask each of them the question "Do you swear or promise to uphold the Constitution?", to which they must respond "yes, I swear" or "yes, I promise".
Designation of the Andalusian senators
On July 23, the Plenary of the Andalusian Parliament appointed the nine senators who will represent the community in the upper Chamber, once the regional elections of May 17 were held.
Of those nine seats, four correspond to PP-A, three to PSOE-A, and two to Vox. Based on the electoral results, PP-A would have been entitled to five senators, but ceded one to Vox by virtue of the government agreement reached in Andalusia between both parties for this legislature.
In this way, the Popular Group registered the candidacy of María Pastor —then director of the Office of Maternity Care of the City Council of Seville— as senator, although her appointment was made at the proposal of Vox. Thus, both she and Álvaro Zancajo will integrate into the Mixed Group of the Senate, where the representatives of that formation are framed.