Pedro Sánchez still needs the support of numerous regional parties to stay in office
MADRID, Oct 25 (Telegraph News) – Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE), led by departing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and Yolanda Daz’s far-left Sumar alliance struck a partnership agreement on Tuesday.
According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the agreement contains a variety of social measures, including suggestions to manage job layoffs, raise the minimum wage, and reduce working hours without lowering wages.
Spain has been in political limbo since July when an inconclusive national election left no obvious path for any of the major parties to form a government.
After the center-right Popular Party, which received the most votes in the election, failed to obtain the support of a majority in parliament, Sánchez’s Socialists were entrusted with establishing a government earlier this month.
A deal between the Socialists and Sumar was generally predicted, but it was insufficient to secure a majority, so Sánchez must still gain the support of smaller regional parties.
His most difficult task will be gaining the support of the Catalan separatist Junts group and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), both of which are demanding amnesty for those involved in the failed 2017 Catalan independence referendum, as well as Madrid’s explicit consent to hold a new vote on self-determination.
Sánchez, who has been in government since 2018, has until November 27 to obtain a majority of MPs’ support. If he fails, new elections will be held in Spain on January 14, 2024.