PSOE sets wheels in motion on coalition talks
Sunday, December 27, 2015 @ 10:51 AM
SOCIALIST leader Pedro Sánchez is due to hold a meeting with his MPs today (Sunday) to discuss possible coalition options following the split results of the elections exactly a week ago.
He wants to brainstorm the situation with some of the regional government leaders who have been most critical of the PSOE, or socialists, attempting to form a pact with left-wing independents Podemos.
These include Susana Díaz, president of Andalucía; Guillermo Fernández Vara, president of the land-locked western region of Extremadura, and of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page.
Susana Díaz has told Sánchez (pictured) in no uncertain terms that any pacts will be decided in the Federal Committee, which is due to meet tomorrow (Monday), but Sánchez wants to discuss potential routes to the president's seat ahead of this.
The PSOE leader is weighing up a possible leftist coalition, in which Podemos – with 69 seats – would be key, since the governing majority is 176 seats and the PSOE has 90.
But Sánchez is clear that he will not join forces with Podemos unless the latter backs down over its determination to allow Catalunya to hold its much-desired referendum on independence.
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