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Spanish Socialist leader still hopeful of pact with left wing Podemos

Xinhua, March 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spanish Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that he was still optimistic of being able to reach an agreement with left wing party Podemos which would allow him to become the next prime minister of Spain.

Sanchez made the declaration on Spanish TV network 'Cuatro' a week after losing the first of two investiture votes in the Spanish Congress in which the Socialists and the center-right Citizens (C's) party received just 130 votes in favor with 219 against in the 350 seat Congress.

The vote was repeated on Friday, but with the right wing People's Party (PP) and Podemos voting against him, Sanchez was only able to receive 131 votes the second time around.

The clock is ticking in Spain and unless a prime minister is chosen by May 3, new elections will be called for June 26. However, despite his defeat Sanchez remains bullish that he "would be prime minister" and optimistic over new agreements.

"I want to reach agreement with (Podemos leader) Pablo Iglesias. I think it is an enormous opportunity to end (Mariano) Rajoy's spell as prime minister," he said.

Rajoy remains as acting Prime Minister, something Sanchez says "makes no sense," given that he is there "because of the negative coalition he has with Iglesias."

Sanchez presented a view of a government which would not be "monochrome... it could range from the center-right and also represent the left."

He also ruled out Iglesias being deputy prime minister, something the Podemos leader had stipulated as a condition of pacting with the Socialist.

"I have always said I want a plural government and I have never closed the door on a coalition. The Socialists have 90 deputies and we don't have the strength to form a one-party government, so I am not closing the door on any formula," commented Sanchez.

He did, however close the door on a three-party coalition with the PP and C's: something Rajoy has long been asking for.

"The Socialists will always be willing to help the PP in questions of State," he said, but "the Socialists and PP cannot form a coalition, because that would eliminate the alternative between left and right." Endit