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Spanish king completes second round of negotiations with party leaders

Xinhua, February 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

King Felipe VI of Spain completed his second round of talks with political party leaders with Spain still waiting for a government to be formed in the wake of the December 20 general election.

The elections left a hung parliament with the ruling People's Party (PP) losing its majority with the number of representatives cut to 123 in the 350-seat Spanish Congress, well short of the 175 needed for a majority.

The Socialists (PSOE) won 90 seats while recently formed parties, the left-wing Podemos and center-right Citizens won 69 and 40 seats, respectively.

So far, the parties have failed to reach an agreement on forming a coalition government with PSOE. Its leader Pedro Sanchez has repeatedly told Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that he is unwilling to collaborate with him.

Rajoy consequently told Felipe VI on January 25 that he was unable to form a government.

The most recent round of meetings saw Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias offer to form a coalition with the PSOE, although a PSOE-Podemos pact would still leave Sanchez short of a majority. There is opposition from several PSOE heavyweights against forming a coalition with Podemos.

Meanwhile, Citizens remain firm in their declarations that they would not support any coalition involving Podemos or Catalan or Basque nationalist parties.

Iglesias and Citizens leader Albert Rivera will see the king on Monday with Rajoy and Sanchez visiting the Royal Palace a day later. Endit