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Spain Faces Crucial Vote in Sanchez Bid to Form New Government

Spain Faces Crucial Vote in Sanchez Bid to Form New Government

(Bloomberg) -- Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will go to Spain’s parliament on Thursday to seek its permission to form a government after failing in a similar bid earlier this week, as he tries to avoid a fourth general election in as many years.

Key to a victory will be securing a deal with the left-wing party Podemos, which until now has rejected a tie-up with Sanchez’s Socialists over disagreements about the terms of a possible coalition. The outlook for an accord still looks uncertain. El Pais reported late on Wednesday that the government sees the talks as having broken down because Sanchez won’t accept Podemos’s wide-ranging demands for powers in the government. Podemos still sees the talks as ongoing, the newspaper said.

Spain Faces Crucial Vote in Sanchez Bid to Form New Government

At stake is Sanchez’s ability to form a stable government that can protect an economic expansion that began in 2013 and help the country move on from the current political turbulence. But even if he succeeds in forming a coalition with Podemos, Sanchez will still be the leader of a minority government and may have to rely on smaller groups including Catalan separatists to get legislation passed.

Securing enough votes will technically be easier this time, with Sanchez just needing a simple majority -- more votes in favor of his appointment than those against -- instead of the absolute majority required in the parliament ballot held two days ago.

Meanwhile, relations with Podemos have been fractious to say the least. Sanchez refused to allow Pablo Iglesias, Podemos’s leader, to be part of his government because of major disagreements over policy, including their stance on the Catalan independence question.

Here’s a guide to Thursday’s vote:

What happens and when?

  • Parliament convenes at 1:30 p.m. Sanchez speaks for up to 10 minutes to present his candidacy. Leaders of other groups get five minutes to speak -- there will be no debate.
  • Once that’s over, Meritxell Batet, the parliament speaker, will fix a time for the vote. The vote has to take place at least 48 hours after the previous one, which ended at about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

How do the numbers add up?

  • The Socialists and Podemos together have 165 seats compared with the conservative opposition bloc (the People’s Party, Ciudadanos and Vox) of 147 seats. The Catalan separatists ERC and the Basque nationalists PNV with a combined 21 votes have indicated they won’t be an obstacle to Sanchez and may abstain.
  • So in theory, Sanchez should get through. If he does, King Felipe VI will be informed and Sanchez will become prime minister.

What happens if Sanchez doesn’t win?

  • Over a two-month period, Sanchez can continue his efforts to secure a majority and go back to parliament, if invited to do so by the king.
  • If he fails, the king would dissolve parliament and call new elections that would take place in November.

To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net;Thomas Gualtieri in Madrid at tgualtieri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Raymond Colitt

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