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Spain must wait for new gov't as King decides against third round of talks

Xinhua, March 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spaniards must wait to see if they will have a new government in the coming weeks or whether there will have to be a new general election at the end of June after Monday's decision by King Felipe VI to not call the leaders of the country's political parties for a fresh round of discussions over the formation of a new executive.

Felipe met Spanish Parliament Speaker Patxi Lopez on Monday in the wake of Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez's failure to win the support he needed in Congress to be named as Prime Minister in Friday's investiture vote.

Sanchez, whose party had signed a pact with center-right party Citizens (C's), was only able to win 131 votes in favor against the 219 amassed by the other parties in Congress, making him the first party leader to lose two investiture votes.

It had been thought that the King would announce a third round of conversations with party leaders but a press release by the Royal Household on Monday confirmed he would not do that "for the present time."

The reason for this decision is "to allow the party leaders to take the steps they believe necessary," in order to reach the agreements needed to form a stable government.

It is by no means certain that the respective leaders will be able to reach an agreement that has evaded them since the December 20 general election left acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Peoples' Party with 123 seats, the Socialist with 90, Podemos with 69 and C's with 40 seats in Congress.

Although Podemos' leader Pablo Iglesias said on Friday he would be willing to work with the Socialists, he also made it clear they would not work with C's, while the Socialists and C's have since confirmed they will respect their pact despite Friday's defeat.

Meanwhile in an interview with radio station Cadena Copa on Monday, Rajoy said he would "pick up the phone to talk to Sanchez," adding that "if the party wants me to, I would like to be the candidate at the next election."

If no agreement has been reached by May 3 Congress would be dissolved and a new election called for June 26. Endit