Spanish stalemate continues as Sanchez loses second vote

Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez has again been thwarted in his attempt to be confirmed as Prime Minister after losing a second parliamentary vote in the 350-seat Spanish Congress of Deputies on Thursday.

Spanish Socialist Party's parliamentary Spokeswoman, Adriana Lastra (up) and Spanish acting Prime Minister and aspirant for re-election Pedro Sanchez (down) attend the second and last investiture vote at Lower Chamber of Spanish Parliament in Madrid, Spain, 25 July 2019. [Photo: EFE via IC]

Sanchez received 124 votes in favor, with 155 against and with 67 abstentions in a vote where a simple majority (more votes in favor than against) would have seen him returned as Prime Minister.

Only the 123 deputies of Sanchez's Socialist Party and the single deputy of the Cantabrian Regionalist Party voted in support of his candidacy to be Prime Minister, meaning that he won the same number of votes as in Tuesday's first vote in Congress.

As on Tuesday, the 66 members of the right wing People's Party (PP) along with 57 deputies from Ciudadanos and 24 from the extreme right wing party Vox voted against Sanchez along with Catalan nationalists Junts per Catalunya, Navarra Suma and Coalicion Canaria all repeated their opposition to Sanchez.

The 67 abstentions were made up of the 42 deputies of the left wing party Unidos Podemos, along with 14 members from the Catalan party Ezquerra Republicana (ERC), who had voted against Sanchez two days ago, while six deputies from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), four from Bildu (another Basque nationalist party) and one from Compromis also repeated their abstention.

The 48 hours between the first and second parliamentary vote saw frantic negotiations between the PSOE and Unidos Podemos as the two parties sought to reach an agreement over the construction of a coalition government and Unidos Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias even made a last ditch offer to Sanchez during his intervention in the Congress of Deputies.

Podemos has asked for four major positions in Sanchez's government: Vice-Presidency of Social Rights and Equality, as well as the Ministries of Labor, Migrations and Social Security; Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Science and Universities, although Iglesias dropped the request for the Ministry of Labor in the midst of the debate.

The Socialists were unwilling to accept these demands and following his defeat Sanchez blamed Iglesias for the continued political stalemate insisting he had "lost a historic opportunity" for a progressive coalition.

"There should be a cohesive government, not two governments Mr Iglesias," he said, accusing the Unidos Podemos leader of "a lack of experience in matters of state," and asking "what use is the left wing if it loses even when it wins?"

Iglesias, meanwhile, accused Sanchez of brinksmanship and trying to force his party into giving its support.

"It is very difficult to negotiate in 48 hours what you have failed to negotiate in 80 days," he said.

Meanwhile PNV spokesman Aitor Esteban and ERC's Gabriel Ruffian both criticized Sanchez and Iglesias for their failure to find common ground, with Ruffian saying the only parties who would be happy would be the PP, Ciudadanos and Vox, and warning they could "regret what has happened today."

Sanchez could still become Prime Minister in a third vote before Sept. 23, or he could now opt to take advantage of his party's current popularity in the opinion polls and call a new general election, which would be the fourth in the last four years.