Pedro Sánchez re-elected as leader of a divided Spain
Pedro Sánchez, who has been in power in Spain for five years, was re-elected on Thursday by parliament at the head of a country deeply divided by the prime minister's decision to grant an amnesty law to Catalan separatists in exchange for their support.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez celebrates his re-election as head of the country after the vote in Parliament in Madrid on 16 November. AFP - JAVIER SORIANO
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After two days of tense parliamentary debates, the Socialist, who has proven in recent years his ability to survive politically, won the votes of 179 MPs, a number higher than the absolute majority set at 176. "The confidence of the Chamber (of Deputies) has been given to Pedro Sánchez," its president said to applause from the left-wing benches.
The inauguration ends nearly four months of deadlock since the July 23 general election and will allow Pedro Sánchez, 51, to form a new government with his allies in the far-left Sumar coalition. Pedro Sanchez will be sworn in before King Felipe VI on Friday at 10:00 a.m., the Royal Palace said.
The prime minister, who came second in the July election behind his conservative rival Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has had to negotiate the support of several regionalist parties in recent weeks, whose votes are crucial in a highly fragmented parliament.
In particular, he had to convince the party of Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont, leader of Catalonia's 2017 secession attempt, who fled to Belgium six years ago to escape legal proceedings against him. Agreeing, after intense negotiations, to support Pedro Sánchez, the Catalan leader obtained, in exchange for the votes of the seven deputies of his party, the imminent adoption of an amnesty law for hundreds of separatists prosecuted by the courts. A measure that will allow him to return to Spain.
Read alsoSpain: before his inauguration, Pedro Sanchez defends amnesty for Catalan separatists
'Closing the wounds'
Explaining to MPs the priorities of his new mandate, clearly marked on the left with many social promises, Pedro Sánchez defended on Wednesday the necessity and constitutionality of this amnesty, to which he had been opposed in the past. This measure will make it possible to "close the wounds" opened by the 2017 crisis, said the Prime Minister, assuring that he wanted to guarantee "the unity of Spain through dialogue and forgiveness".
Feijóo's People's Party (PP) accuses the Socialist Party of having conceded it with the sole aim of staying in power and raises the risk that Spain could find itself in the EU's sights, like Hungary or Poland, because of the attack on the rule of law which, according to it, constitutes measure. The amnesty "undermines our international reputation and our democracy," Feijóo said as he left the chamber.
At the call of the PP, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country on Sunday to say "no" to this measure, which is rejected, according to several polls, by a majority of Spaniards. A new mobilization is planned for Saturday in Madrid.
(with AFP)
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