Spain - Sanchez Minority Government To Swing Left - Far, Far Left

Pedro Sanchez, leader of the Spanish socialists (pictured (left) with Mr Pablo Iglesias (right) of the far-left party Podemos), was sworn in as the new prime minister by King Felipe over the weekend. He rose to power last week by organizing a no-confidence vote against longtime Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

As per Spain’s constitution, written at a moment when there were only two major government parties, the party that is able to win a no-confidence vote is able to take over the post of Prime Minister.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who is Pedro Sanchez, Spain&#39;s PM-in-waiting? <a href="https://t.co/ss6U9TWDez">https://t.co/ss6U9TWDez</a> <a href="https://t.co/somCHcbQ4p">pic.twitter.com/somCHcbQ4p</a></p>&mdash; Al Jazeera News (@AJENews) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJENews/status/1002580588396711938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2018</a></blockquote>

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However, with only 84 seats of a possible 350 seat parliament, the socialists are a tad short of having a workable government and thus many expected many for Mr Sanchez to call fresh elections.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/27696-Spain-Prime-Minister-Rajoy-Forced-Out-Of-Office-In-Corruption-Probe-Video

But herein lies the danger for the socialists. Current polling shows that Ciudadanos, the newly formed rightwing party that is very market-friendly and will sap away the disenchanted voters from former PM Rajoy’s Partido Popular, would always win any snap election, and rob Mr Sanchez of his only ever chance to rule Spain.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The PSOE now heads an unstable minority regime, propped up by Podemos and the separatists and likely to clash with the working class over its plans to impose sweeping and unpopular austerity measures. <a href="https://t.co/Bu1t07zBzs">https://t.co/Bu1t07zBzs</a></p>&mdash; World Socialist WS (@WSWS_Updates) <a href="https://twitter.com/WSWS_Updates/status/1003546986182737921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

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And thus Mr Sanchez is making a pact with the only ally he has left, the far-leftwing Podemos party of Mr Pablo Iglesias (himself embroiled in the ‘chalet-gate’ scandal just a few weeks ago, see our related coverage) as support for a minority government.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/27325-Spain-Podemos-Leadership-Survives-Chalet-Gate-Vote

But, as Spain had seen several years of economic reforms under Mr Rajoy’s Partido Popular, those are now finally beginning to pay off and the economy is back on track with a good growth record for this year, meaning very few voters are ready for leftist reform measures as Mr Sanchez, and certainly Podemos, will want to propose.

Lastly, a first obstacle already awaits Mr Sanchez as the newly formed regional government in Barcelona would like to discuss self-rule, an item which was never discussable with Mr Rajoy in power, but something to which socialist Mr Sanchez, who needs every possible ally right now to retain government, might be willing to listen.

Source:

https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2018/06/04/actualidad/1528101727_685480.html