Spanish separatist, regionalist groups boycott King Felipe as he opens new legislature

OVIEDO, Spain

Three of Spain's regionalist groups refused to attend the King’s opening session of the new legislature on Wednesday.

Instead, the three left-wing groups from Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia released a statement, titled We have no king. Democracy, freedom, republic.

“The monarchy is an anachronistic institution, incompatible with democratic principles,” the statement read. “And in the case of Spain, this anti-democratic character is accentuated due to the fact that it was imposed by the dictator Franco.”

Indeed, the monarchy was abolished during the Second Spanish Republic in 1931. Power was not handed back to the royal family until Francisco Franco died and made King Juan Carlos his successor.

The three groups, two of them separatists, argue that “a true democracy” is only possible by abolishing this monarchy. They also say that the Basque, Catalan and Galician societies largely reject the figure of the king.

On Sunday, Spanish newspaper El Diario published a poll suggesting that a slight majority of Spaniards want a referendum on the monarchy.

If the question was up to voters, 44.7% would vote for a republic while 45.3% would vote to keep the monarchy, according to the poll. The remaining 11% said they were undecided.

The poll shows that conservative voters are much more likely to support Spain’s royal family.

In line with those sentiments, the leader of Spain’s main conservative opposition party slammed the politicians who “boycotted” the king and said their salaries should be docked because they missed work.

Meanwhile, Spain’s King Felipe VI in parliament called on politicians to seek understanding and said “political pluralism will improve” the country.

“Our obligation, the obligation of all institutions, is to bequeath the youngest Spaniards a solid and united Spain, without divisions or conflicts,” he said.

He also congratulated Pedro Sanchez for being reelected as the country’s leader.

Parliamentary Speaker Francina Armengol also gave a speech to kick off the new government term, calling on politicians to work towards reducing inequality, violence against women and polarization.

After Spain was rocked by anti-Sanchez and anti-amnesty protests in recent weeks, with the far-right party Vox saying the government is “illegal,” Armengol emphasized the legitimacy of the new left-wing coalition government.

Popular Party and Vox politicians did not applaud her speech.

Feijoo, defending the decision not to applaud, told media: “It’s the worst speech of a parliamentary speaker that I’ve ever heard ... When the speaker behaves like a member of parliament from one party, it doesn’t deserve it.”