King meets party leaders: Rajoy accepts nomination, but ‘may not turn up’ for in-house election
Friday, July 29, 2016 @ 12:50 PM
SPAIN’S prospects of avoiding a third general election appear slimmer than ever after King Felipe finished his round of consultations this week with party leaders.
Acting president Mariano Rajoy has warned the monarch he may not turn up to the in-house voting if he does not gain enough support from the other parties, mirroring the aftermath of December’s failed general election.
But he has accepted the King’s nomination for him to form a government, which he rejected last time around based upon his lack of support.
PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez has reiterated he will vote ‘no’ to Rajoy, whilst centre-right Ciudadanos’ leader Albert Rivera – whose party is the only one Rajoy may be able to count on for back-up – says it wants ‘either a united government with a clean record’ or one of the PP, Rajoy’s group, in minority.
And left-wing independents Podemos, led by Pablo Iglesias, says this time around the possibility of a left-wing coalition government appears ‘more difficult’ and ‘farther away’, especially as his failure to reach an agreement with Sánchez – even voting against him in the presidential in-house election – means the PSOE has not made any attempt to strike a deal with them.
The PNV, or Basque Nationalist Party, and Catalunya Convergence and Democracy (CDC) were rumoured to be planning to support PP leader Mariano Rajoy in the in-house presidential elections - originally due for next week, but now delayed further - to ensure the right-wing party would get back into the hotseat despite only holding 134 seats out of a required majority of 176.
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