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Notes
1. Given the use of a formal vote of investiture for the prime minister, it may be noteworthy that Spain runs counter to Strøm et al. (Citation2010: 526) when they report on other scholars such as Bergman (Citation1993) who argue that minority governments are more likely to emerge in parliaments with no investiture vote and that countries with such positive formation rules are more likely to have coalition governments.
2. For example, and perceived as the tip of the iceberg by some, King Felipe VI’s sister, Princess Christina, went on trial in January 2016 in Majorca with 17 other defendants for tax fraud. The indictment involved her husband’s business dealings in running a charitable foundation and the funnelling of millions of euros into it. Christina’s involvement had to do with her joint ownership of some of the companies involved. Once charged, King Felipe distanced himself from his sister and stripped her of the title Duchess of Palma in an attempt to limit the damage to the monarchy, whose reputation had begun to dip during the last years of Juan Carlos’ reign, one reason he abdicated in favour of his son.
3. The CiU and the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) had for many years run together with the Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). In 2015, the CiU‒CDC and UDC ran separately, given the CDC’s support for Catalan independence while most UDC leaders preferred some type of loose association. UDC leaders who did not agree joined the CDC in a separate list in 2015 called Democracy and Freedom (DL) (Delgado and López Citation2016: 249).
4. The PP won a majority in the Senate in both the 2015 and 2016 elections, with Podemos entering this chamber for the first time in 2015. In 2015, the PP, PSOE, and Podemos won, respectively, 124, 47, and 16 Senate seats. Combining these with the 58 appointed by the Autonomous Committees, the PP controlled 145 of the Senate’s 266 seats. In 2016, the PP increased its majority to 151 total seats by winning 130 in the election, with the PSOE dropping four seats and Podemos holding at 16 seats.