SOCIALIST head Pedro Sánchez, still reeling from his second failed attempt at being voted in as president after left-wing parties gave him a collective 'no', says he believes Podemos is 'playing at getting fresh elections in Spain'.
“I thought that, as our values and ideas were most in affinity with theirs, it would have been a lot easier trying to talk to Podemos,” laments the PSOE boss (pictured).
But the socialists' deal with liberals Ciudadanos has upset the leftist party, led by Pablo Iglesias, who promptly broke off all negotiations with Sánchez.
And Sánchez says his three main red lines vis à vis Podemos would not change: the PSOE would never agree to an independence referendum in Catalunya, would not sanction Iglesias' desire to increase public spending in social programmes by €96 billion, and would not allow Iglesias to 'start demanding ministries and positions'.
Iglesias, 37, an ex-university professor in politics who started his party two years ago in a garage, wants to be deputy president – but Sánchez says he will not discuss individual status before he has agreed with other parties on policy.
Podemos' leader has always said he would wait until Sánchez lost the second in-house vote before he started talks, adding that it would be 'extremely difficult' for his party to form a deal with Ciudadanos.
“Our political values are too different,” says Iglesias, who believes Ciudadanos to be 'too far-right' and 'only concerned about the top-end stock market companies' rather than social welfare.
“But our formula – a Valencian-style government with left-wing parties Compromís and United Left – would give Sánchez a total of 162 seats,” he stresses.
“This is far more viable, since the Basque and Catalunya nationalist parties would agree to at least abstain, if not vote in favour.”
For a majority, whoever governs needs 176 seats out of the 352 in Parliament, but the current reigning right-wing PP only has 123, the PSOE 90, Podemos 65, and Ciudadanos 40.
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