The highly controversial abortion bill, which has drawn domestic and foreign criticism, rolls forward.

Last night there was a secret ballot, giving the chance for dissenting PP MP’s to vote according to their conscience, as opposed to adhering to party discipline. Not one of the 178 conservatives MP’s broke ranks, despite the anonymity of their vote.

What happened last night completely mirrors 2003 when conservative MP’s during Jose María Aznar’s Government voted on Spain’s backing of the Iraq invasion. Like now, the conservative government held the absolute majority, and like now many conservatives expressed both privately and publicly their reservations against conservative Government’s policy in the affair… and like now, not one single MP voted against it when given a chance.

Even more surprising this time around, there were actually more votes in favour than the 178 conservative votes; five such votes must have come from the ranks of the UDC, UPN or PNV (all regional nationalist parties.)

There are two reasons why the conservative vote was hermetic; the call for a secret ballot was made by the opposition socialist party (PSOE) and party discipline imposes economic fines on defaulters.

The fact that the secret ballot was a socialist idea, inclined wavering conservatives to consider a negative vote as an act of “treachery by falling into a socialist trap.”

Which brings us onto this surprising anomaly in European, political-party rules. The two major parties in Spain both fine discrepant MP’s for breaking party policy. In Britain or Germany, successive governments often find their bills rejected thanks to their own MP’s siding with the opposition over a matter they feel personally unable to support. Not so in Spain.

But the abortion bill is far from through because there will be plenty of other opportunities for conservative MP’s to express their discord with the party over this matter, where voting will be open and voting against will not be seen as “falling into a socialist trap.”

(News: Spain)