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Sanchez Pitches for Moderate Vote Amid Fractured Spain Politics

Sanchez Pitches For Moderate Vote Amid Fractured Spain Politics

(Bloomberg) -- Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez painted himself as the voice of moderation in Spanish politics as the country braces for an election campaign in the shadow of forthcoming verdicts in a trial of Catalan separatists and international disputes over trade and Brexit.

“I humbly ask people to think who can guide our country with moderation toward progress,” Sanchez said in Madrid as he presented his Socialist party’s campaign pledges. His pitch to voters includes further increases to pensions and the minimum wage.

Spaniards head to the polls on Nov. 10 after Sanchez’s efforts over the summer to forge a new government came to nothing over his refusal to allow the anti-austerity party Podemos to join his Socialists in a coalition.

Even so, the prospect of a new election -- the fourth in four years -- is focusing the minds of Sanchez’s political rivals. Albert Rivera, the leader of the center-right Ciudadanos party, signaled over the weekend he might be open to talks with Sanchez while Pablo Casado, leader of the conservative People’s Party told El Mundo newspaper he might consider pacts with “historical rivals” such as the Socialists.

Spain needs a coherent government as it faces down threats including the response in Catalonia to a verdict due in coming days on the case of jailed pro-independence Catalan leaders. Other challenges include a potential hard Brexit, and the consequences of a cooling economy amid international trade disputes.

Sanchez said the Socialists’ full electoral programs will be unveiled in coming weeks. Listed below are some of the 35 “social commitments,” he unveiled in Madrid on Monday:

  • Peg pensions to the consumer price index
  • Increase minimum wage to reach 60% of the average wage by the end of his next mandate
  • Roll back the most “harmful” parts of the labor market reform passed by the PP government in 2012
  • Improve housing opportunities for young people
  • Create a watchdog to protect banking costumers
  • Make Spain’s tax system more progressive

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Gualtieri in Madrid at tgualtieri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Charles Penty at cpenty@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills

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