King of Spain instructs Pedro Sánchez to bid to be reelected PM

The Spanish king, Felipe VI, has proposed that acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez make a bid in congress to win the support of MPs in an investiture debate.  

House speaker Francina Armengol will set a date for the debate once she has spoken with the Socialists leader. 

At the moment, Sánchez can count on the support of the 121 MPs in his party, the 31 MPs of left-wing coalition Sumar – despite their leader Yolanda Díaz saying yesterday that they are still "far from an agreement" – and the 6 MPs of Basque pro-independence party Bildu. 

He will look to gain the backing of Catalan pro-independence parties ERC and Junts, with 7 seats each, as well as the Basque National Party's 5 MPs, and the sole representative from the Galician Nationalist Bloc. 

The Canarian Coalition's single MP could also potentially back Sánchez, despite voting for the conservative People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo in his failed bid to become prime minister last week. 

Felipe VI nominating Sánchez to make a bid for PM comes two and a half months after the inconclusive general election of July 23, and after the Spanish king gave the green light to Feijóo to attempt to win the support of congress. 

Sánchez promises Catalan solutions but no referendum 

Sánchez has promised solutions to "overcome discord" in Catalonia but has reiterated his stance that an independence referendum is incompatible with the Spanish constitution. 

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the acting PM said he was "delighted" to accept the king's invitation to put himself forward as a candidate for the investiture debate. 

He warned, however, that negotiations will be "complex" and that his aim is to build a majority that will provide stability for a full term. 

Sánchez spoke of the need for a "progressive" government and one that believed in the "territorial diversity" of Spain. 

Now, he said, "it's time for politics." It is necessary to keep moving forward on the path of "coexistence and harmony" in Catalonia to "overcome the discord of the past." 

While that could be interpreted as an implicit reference to a potential amnesty for Catalan pro-independence figures, Sánchez made his belief clear that a referendum "has no place in the constitution." 

Meetings to include Junts and Bildu 

Sánchez announced that starting tomorrow, Wednesday, he will meet with "parliamentary groups," beginning with the leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz.  

He will meet with the spokespersons of all the other groups except for far-right Vox. 

This includes Junts, ERC and Bildu, although the meetings will be with the group's representatives in congress, rather than Junts founder Carles Puigdemont, the former Catalan president now exiled in Belgium. 

At the moment, Sánchez has 171 votes against. His party is working to obtain up to 179, votes which would be three more than an absolute majority (176), or, in the second round of voting, to have more votes in favor than against, i.e., a minimum of 172, with abstentions excluded.