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Spanish Socialists in turmoil as two factions face off

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) was in turmoil on Thursday as rival factions battled it out for control of the party.

Party members loyal to leader Pedro Sanchez have called for a party congress and opponents saying they had no authority to do so.

Wednesday saw 17 opponents of Sanchez in the party's Federal Committee, which is in charge of drawing up and agreeing on party policy, resign in an attempt to force Sanchez's resignation. This followed the party's disastrous regional election results in the Basque region and Galicia on Sunday.

That electoral setback heightened internal divisions in the party between those loyal to Sanchez who want to attempt to form a progressive coalition government in Spain, and followers of Andalusian party leader Susana Diaz, who would rather the party abstained in a second investiture vote to let People's Party leader Mariano Rajoy form a minority government.

Opposition to Sanchez came to a head on Wednesday morning when former prime minister and PSOE heavyweight Felipe Gonzalez used a radio interview to accuse Sanchez of telling him he would abstain and allow Rajoy to govern following the June 26 general election.

That election saw the PSOE take its worst ever election result, winning just 85 seats in the 350-seat Congress and Sanchez's opponents argue it is impossible to govern with just 85 deputies.

Following the 17 resignations on Wednesday evening, Sanchez refused to resign and called a meeting of the 18 "loyal" committee members for Thursday morning.

The anti-Sanchez faction refused to accept that reading of events, with Victoria Perez, who had been Federal Committee president, telling reporters outside the PSOE headquarters in Madrid on Thursday morning that Sanchez had "no authority" in the party following the resignations and that she "was the only authority in the PSOE today," whether Sanchez's supporters "like it or not."

In return, PSOE's head office said Perez was "no longer president of the Federal Committee, because that figure no longer exists," given the president was elected ahead of every annual committee meeting.

At Thursday's Federal Committee meeting, Sanchez's loyal members agreed to hold a further meeting on October 1 in order to convoke a party congress with the aim of electing a new party leader and Federal Committee on October 23.

Sanchez will be a candidate in that vote as he and his followers calculate he is more popular among PSOE grassroots members than Diaz, who can count on the support of the majority of party heavyweights. Endit