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Left-wing parties in Spain to continue talks ahead of investiture debate

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the United Left (IU), Podemos and Compromis will hold a second round of talks on Tuesday evening as PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez continues to seek the support he needs to win the investiture debate, which is scheduled to open in the Spanish Congress on March 2.

Monday was the first time the PSOE, Podemos, Compromis (a left-wing party from the Valencia region which formed an electoral pact with Podemos in the election) and IU sat down together since the election in December 2015, which left a hung parliament.

The four-hour meeting ended close to midnight on Monday without any agreements, but the PSOE and Podemos will sit down together again at 6:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, followed by more four-party talks two hours later.

PSOE spokesman Antonio Hernando commented after Monday's meeting that the PSOE was optimistic "many agreements with many parties will be announced over the coming days."

Sanchez accepted the task of forming a collation government after the leader of the Peoples Party (PP) and acting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy said at the start of February that he did not have the support to reach a majority in the country's 350-seat Congress.

The PP won 123 seats in the general elections on December 20 last year, while the PSOE won 90, with Podemos taking 69 (including four from Compromis) and the center-right Citizens party, 40.

Should PSOE, Podemos, IU (which won two seats) and Compromis agree to form a coalition government they would make-up a total of 161 seats, still below the 176 majority needed to give Sanchez an overall majority in the investiture vote.

However, the Spanish constitution would give Sanchez a second chance to claim power, because if he is unable to win an overall majority in the first vote, he could present himself for a second investiture vote 48 hours later. A simple majority would be enough in the second vote.

In this scenario, Sanchez would hope to persuade Citizens leader Albert Rivera, whom he also met on Monday, to abstain in order to allow the PSOE to form a government and avoid the need for another general election in June. Endit