A debate and vote will be held later this week to re-elect incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, ABC News reports.
According to Speaker Francina Armengol, the vote will take place after a debate on Thursday, while party leaders will discuss Sanchez’s candidacy on Wednesday.
Sanchez, who has held his post since 2018, is expected to be elected easily as his Socialist Party has struck a deal with a number of smaller parties to ensure he has the support of 179 lawmakers, three votes more than the required 176-vote majority in parliament in the first vote. Spain’s inconclusive election on 23 July left all parties without a clear path to forming a government.
The centre-right Popular Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijoo, won the most seats in the election with 137. However, due to close ties with the far-right Vox party, almost no other parties supported Feijoo’s candidacy in the September elections.
Sanchez’s Socialists have won 121 seats in the 350-seat parliament. The agreements signed so far mean that the Socialists and their left-wing coalition partner Sumar’s party, which won 31 seats, can count on 27 seats from six small parties in the investment vote. However, it remains to be seen whether the group will remain in place for the full four-year parliamentary term.
Most high-profile was a deal struck with a separatist party led by fugitive former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, which promised the support of seven of its MPs in exchange for amnesty for potentially thousands of people involved in the region’s failed 2017 secession attempt. The proposal sparked protests called for by right-wing opposition parties, with some rallies outside Socialist Party offices ending in clashes with police.
Details of the amnesty bill have not yet been disclosed, but it could benefit Puigdemont and dozens of others, from petty government officials to ordinary citizens, who have faced legal challenges over their role in Catalonia’s illegal secession attempt that brought Spain to the brink six years ago.
Spain’s courts are still trying to get Puigdemont extradited from Belgium. Given that he is seen by many as an enemy of the state, a deal favourable to him would inevitably spark political controversy. The amnesty proposal has also sparked discontent among members of the judiciary and police unions.
Sanchez, who has previously opposed the amnesty, insists it is necessary to bring normal political life back to Catalonia and will be beneficial to Spain. Most of the parties support him.
