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Ana Pastor elected as speaker of Spanish Congress

Xinhua, July 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Acting Minister of Public Works Ana Pastor was elected Tuesday to be the Speaker of the Spanish Congress after the People's Party and center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens) reached an agreement to try to end the political deadlock in the country.

Pastor won against the Socialist Workers Party's (PSOE) Patxi Lopez who had 155 votes to the 169 of Pastor. Lopez had been elected in January as Speaker of the Spanish Congress thanks to an agreement between Ciudadanos and PSOE after the December 2015 general election.

However, after the general election in June, the People's Party won more seats. As such, the PSOE considered the agreement between the People's Party and Ciudadanos "reasonable" and "legitimate."

However, the election of Pastor was not free from controversy.

Pastor was minister of public works when, in July 2014, a trained crash in Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people. Some claim she did not respond to the accident in a way that assumed political responsibility. A member of the association of victims of the crash read out the names of the victims while she was being proclaimed Speaker.

Meanwhile, Pio Garcia-Escudero will be the Speaker of the Spanish Senate.

Parliamentary groups will be formed in the following five days and Spanish King Felipe VI will start a round of meetings with the representatives of the political parties in the parliament.

The June general election resulted in a second hung parliament in Spain, a situation that is forcing the political forces to negotiate so that a government can be formed. Endit