Spanish Socialist party leader Pedro Sanchez on Friday lost another parliamentary vote in his bid to become prime minister, prolonging the deadlock in the nation’s politics.
It is now increasingly likely that Spain will have to hold new elections in June. Far from helping end the political standoff since inconclusive elections in December last year, this week’s heated debate over Sanchez’s nomination opened fresh wounds that will further complicate any new coalition talks.
On Wednesday, lawmakers rejected Sanchez in a first round of voting. On Friday, he lost again, securing 131 out of 350 votes, just one more than he won on Wednesday.
Photo: AP
Sanchez was backed by lawmakers of his own party as well as those of Ciudadanos, or Citizens, which struck a deal with him to form a coalition government.
However, lawmakers from the Popular Party of Acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and lawmakers from Podemos voted against Sanchez.
Spainish King Felipe VI will now have two months to decide whether to give any party leader another opportunity to try to form a government. He faces an uphill struggle to find a suitable nominee, given the antagonism and contradictions displayed this week in parliament by the main party leaders.
While calling for an alliance between Podemos and the Socialists, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias forcefully criticized Sanchez for turning his back on a possible coalition and instead reaching a deal with Ciudadanos.
Speaking to lawmakers, Iglesias also questioned the record of the Socialists in government by bringing up past scandals, including paramilitary killings in the 1990s, when a Socialist, Felipe Gonzalez, was prime minister.
Gonzalez, who remains influential in the Socialist party, later told reporters that he could not understand why Iglesias had so much “rage and hatred.”
Rajoy also torpedoed a possible coalition between his party and the Socialists, which he had advocated, by telling Sanchez that the attempt to replace him as prime minister was fraudulent and amounted to “a farce.”
In December, Rajoy’s party won the most votes, but lost its parliamentary majority. Sanchez was then unexpectedly given a chance to try to become prime minister after Rajoy turned down the king’s offer to form a government, saying that he did not have sufficient support among lawmakers.
Recent opinion polls indicate that even if elections are held in June, they are unlikely to pull Spain out of its political quagmire. Voters are expected to mostly stick with the parties they backed in December, which would result in another deeply fragmented parliament in which no single party comes close to holding a majority of the seats.
On Friday, Sanchez unsuccessfully tried to convince lawmakers that the vote should be a referendum on Rajoy’s leadership.
“Do we want Rajoy to continue at the helm of the government; yes or no?” he asked lawmakers.
Rajoy responded by telling Sanchez that instead of presenting a coherent government program, “you have wasted our time and generated false expectations.”
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS