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Spanish people prefer coalition without Rajoy or Sanchez: poll

Xinhua, January 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The majority of Spaniards want to see a coalition government but without either acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, or Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the Socialist (PSOE), as leader, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.

The poll comes two days after Rajoy, the leader of the People's Party (PP), announced that while he was not withdrawing his candidacy to become prime minister, he was currently not in a position to present himself for an investiture vote, while Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the left wing Podemos party, said he was willing to work in a coalition with the PSOE.

According to the findings of the Metroscope opinion poll published in the el Pais newspaper on Sunday, 62 percent of voters see Rajoy as an obstacle to forming a stable government in Spain five weeks after the Dec. 20 general election left a hung parliament.

A total of 68 percent of voters also believe Rajoy is failing to act in a way which helps the public interest, while 73 percent think the same of Sanchez, with 48 percent of PSOE voters critical of his management of the post-election scenario.

The most popular coalition option according to Metroscope would be one which saw the PP lead a government with the backing of the PSOE and center-right formation Citizens, although this would only have the support of 49 percent of voters with 44 percent against.

Unsurprisingly this option is popular with PP voters with 69 percent in favor, although it would also have the support of 48 percent of socialists.

There is less support for a "progressive" coalition government along the lines of that proposed by Pablo Iglesias, with 36 percent of respondents saying they wanted a coalition involving Podemos and PSOE, although 72 percent of Podemos and 57 percent of PSOE voters said they favored this option.

The coming week sees Spain's political leaders hold a second round of talks in an attempt to form a government. Endit