The Spanish Congress of Deputies was yesterday to vote on whether to confirm Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister at the helm of the country’s first-ever coalition government.
Sanchez, who has stayed on as a caretaker prime minister since inconclusive elections last year, is seeking to be reappointed for another term. He wants to form a minority coalition government with hard-left party Podemos.
On Sunday, Sanchez lost a first confidence vote, having failed to win backing from an absolute majority in the 350-seat lower chamber.
He yesterday faced a second vote, in which he needs just a simple majority to remain prime minister.
While the political math works in his favor after the Socialists struck a deal last week with the 13 lawmakers from Catalan separatist party Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to abstain, the numbers still look tight.
At the latest count Sanchez, 47, could win by a margin of just two votes after the sole lawmaker from the regional Coalicion Canaria formation broke party ranks over the weekend to say that she would vote against him instead of abstaining.
Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, has been in political gridlock without a proper government for most of the past year after two inconclusive elections in April and November.
Sanchez’s Socialists won a repeat Nov. 10 poll, but were weakened, taking 120 seats — three fewer than in April — in an election that saw upstart far-right party Vox surge to third place.
Sanchez quickly struck a deal with Podemos to form what would be the first post-dictatorship coalition government in Spain, despite having previously said that a coalition with the far-left party would keep him up at night.
The two parties have pledged to increase the minimum wage; raise taxes on high earners and large businesses; and repeal elements of Spain’s controversial 2012 labor market reforms that made it easier to fire workers — measures that have alarmed business leaders who warn that they would hurt job creation.
With the two formations’ combined total of 155 seats still falling short of a majority, Sanchez has also secured the support or abstention of several smaller regional parties, including the ERC, which could let him squeak by in yesterday’s second confidence vote.
As part of the deal with the ERC, Sanchez has agreed that the national government should hold talks with Catalonia’s separatist regional government to resolve the “political conflict” over the future of the wealthy northeastern region.
The political situation in Catalonia remains in flux following a 2017 independence referendum that Madrid declared unconstitutional.
“This progressive coalition is the best antidote against this coalition of the apocalypse,” Sanchez said on Sunday, referring to Spain’s conservative parties — the Popular Party, Ciudadanos and Vox — who have accused him of putting national unity at risk with his deal with Catalan separatists.
Popular Party leader Pablo Casado accused Sanchez of forming a “Frankenstein government” made up of “communists” and “separatists” who “want to put an end to Spain,” and warned that the government the Socialist leader is proposing would be unable to govern and not last the full four years.
Sanchez rose to power in June 2018 after ousting his Popular Party predecessor, former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, in a no-confidence vote, but he was forced to call elections in April last year after Catalan separatists including the ERC refused to back his draft budget.
“The political landscape remains tricky,” ING analyst Steven Trypsteen said. “The new government would be a minority government, the Catalan tensions could flare up again ... and the fiscal situation makes it difficult to increase spending a lot.”
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