Spain is a typical parliamentary system in many aspects: the vote of investiture of the Executive must be supported by the legislature, first by absolute majority of votes, and, then a relaxed majority applies. The single-party cabinets formed in Spain in almost all legislative periods since the recent transition to democracy three decades ago have, nevertheless, pacted the support for the vote of investiture with regional-based parties. These, in turn, are loyal to government throughout the legislative period by not imposing vetoes on the most relevant bills in Congress but by getting important concessions in more modest legislation. This paper examines both events and thus sheds light on how multi-level politics may work.
