Spain’s conservative leader saw his final bid to become prime minister rejected by parliament on Friday, paving the way for Socialist incumbent Pedro Sanchez to have another shot at cobbling together a majority – with the backing of separatist parties whose support could cost him dearly.
Two months after an inconclusive general election resulted in a hung parliament, Spain’s protracted political horse-trading has delivered a first, highly expected verdict: there will be no conservative government led by Alberto Nunez-Feijoo – at least not in this legislature.
On Friday, the leader of the right-wing Popular Party (PP) conceded defeat in his second attempt to win the backing of Spain’s Congress of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, falling short of the 176 seats required for a majority.
Feijoo’s failure stems from his controversial alliance with the far-right Vox party, which has effectively alienated all other parties. It sets in motion a two-month countdown to new elections, the country’s sixth in eight years.
That is, unless the country’s interim leader Pedro Sanchez succeeds in his own attempt to reach the 176-seat threshold over the coming weeks.
Sanchez, 51, came second in the July 23 vote, his Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) trailing the PP by a narrower-than-expected 1.4 percentage points. Sometime next week, King Felipe VI is expected to task him with forming a government, although the date for a new investiture vote has yet to be set.
“The Socialists are likely to aim for a vote during the week of October 10-16,” said Barbara Loyer, a professor and Spain expert at Paris-8 University. “The investiture must take place before November 27, barring which Spanish voters will head back to the polls on January 14.”
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