After negotiations, Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez won another term as Prime Minister of Spain in parliamentary elections on Thursday, the 16th of November, winning a four-seat majority in the 350-seat chamber. Success follows the agreement of an amnesty for Catalans linked to the failed secession attempt in 2017, reports the BBC.
Although the conservative Popular Party won the election, its leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo was unable to form a majority.
Socialist MPs applauded Pedro Sanchez’s successful vote, while protesters outside the Spanish Congress booed the MPs as they left the building. Recent nationwide protests, attended by tens of thousands of people, have criticised the Sanchez administration, with Feijóo accusing the Prime Minister of prioritising personal interests.
After the vote, Feijóo shook Sanchez’s hand, but later told reporters that he told Sanchez that he had made a mistake and now “he was responsible for what he did”, pointing out that the Socialists were controlled by separatist parties, writes the BBC.
Before the vote, Sanchez linked attempts to question the legitimacy of his government to a global trend, pointing out that similar trends, where right-wing and far-right politicians refuse to accept election results, have been seen in the US, Brazil and elsewhere.
After the vote, socialist MPs were subjected to incidents of being pelted with eggs and
were called to tighten security due to the tense political climate.
As they passed the congress building, buses hired by the right-wing Catholic organisation Hazte Oír displayed anti-Sanchez messages, including a picture of Sanchez as Adolf Hitler, with the slogan: “Sanchez the dictator”.
After failing to secure a majority in Parliament in October, Pedro Sanchez successfully formed a government with the support of pro-independence parties, including an amnesty agreement with the Catalan Junts.
As the BBC notes, this controversial deal has been criticised not only by the Spanish people but also by the Spanish judiciary, which
has called the cooperation “the beginning of the end of democracy”,
but Sanchez rejects claims that his government is dependent on the parties that want Catalan independence.
He will be sworn in on Friday by King at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid.
The proposed amnesty law in Spain would favour many pro-independence supporters, including Junts leader Carles Puigdemont, and would cover actions dating back to 2012. If adopted, it would lift all outstanding arrest warrants, potentially allowing Puigdemont to return from exile.
Read also: VIDEO | Tens of thousands across Spain protest the proposed Catalan amnesty
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