Pedro Sánchez rejected again by the Spanish Parliament

Barcelona (CNA).- The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE)’s candidate to form a new government in Spain, Pedro Sánchez, failed again to obtain the necessary support to be invested as President. In the second round of the investiture debate, only 131 MPs voted in favour of Sánchez’s candidature, the 90 MPs from Sánchez’s own party, PSOE, the 40 from Unionist Ciutadans and the single MP from the Canarian Coalition (CC), who voted in favour rather than abstaining this time around. The other parties in the Spanish Parliament, the current governing party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), alternative left Podemos and Catalan pro-independence parties ERC and ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ voted against his investiture, totalling 219 votes. 

“I will continue to work to achieve the necessary majority to have the government which the Spanish citizens deserve” stated Sánchez after the voting took place, “which is a government for change”. He also accused Podemos of causing a deadlock in the Spanish government and allowing current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to continue in office. “I won’t give up and let Rajoy be President” he stated.

During the second round of the investiture debate, Sánchez urged the forces “for change” to allow “a government for the common good”. Such an alliance would necessarily gather together “different sensibilities” and ultimately allow Spain to leave current Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and “his politics” behind. PSOE’s leader insisted that the “only alternative” to Rajoy’s government would be a “transversal” agreement, which would “build bridges” and “stimulate affections”. Sánchez insisted, once again, that the agreement between PSOE and Spanish Unionist Ciutadans “is open to the other parties”.

ERC: “pro-independence won in Catalonia”

Left wing pro-independence ERC’s leader in the Spanish Parliament, Gabriel Rufián, urged the chamber to be “democratic” and accept the victory of the pro-independence supporters in Catalonia. “We beat you at the ballot boxes”, stated Rufián. “We are here to tell you to please be democratic and stop equating the coexistence crisis with defeat ” he said and added that there will be a coexistence crisis for Sánchez in the upcoming days. According to Rufián, the auto-determination process in Catalonia “is everything but impossible” because what was really impossible, building a country from nothing, was done by the previous generations after the civil war and Franco’s dictatorship. He also criticised the current governing party, the conservative People’s Party, PSOE and Ciutadans for “denying the Catalans what they want to become”.

‘DiL’ “won’t give up” on independence

‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ (‘Democracy and Freedom’), the coalition created from liberal party CDC to run for the 20-D Spanish elections, launched again an offer for “dialogue” and “agreement” with PSOE, which would facilitate Sánchez’s investiture. In exchange, ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’s leader, Francesc Homs, asked Sánchez to allow a referendum in Catalonia. Following this, Homs stressed that neither his group, nor liberal party CDC will “give up” on independence and their will to negotiate. “I would never ask anybody to give up on his principles in order to sit and talk” stated Homs.