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.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese