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Spain finally has a Prime Minister as Rajoy is victorious Mariano Rajoy was voted in as the new prime minister of Spain at the second round of a congressional vote on Saturday night. So finally after 315 days the PP candidate obtained a simple majority or 170 for and 111 against. The Socialist party (PSOE) voted, albeit not unanimously, to abstain in the second round of the MPs’ vote in parliament, allowing PP leader, Mariano Rajoy, to be sworn in as Spain’s prime minister at the helm of a minority government. The
decision was made at the federal committee meeting with 139 votes in favour of allowing Rajoy to form a new government, and break the current political deadlock, and 96 votes against. However, the decision was not without its casualties as Pedro Sánchez resigned his seat in Congress on Saturday, after being defeated in a vote to celebrate a Congress to vote for a new leader, after voting on Thursday against Mariano Rajoy in the first session of his investiture. With his decision he maintains faithful to his no against a PP Cabinet, and respects the decision of the PSOE federal committee, the main organ for the PSOE between congresses, and not vary from his no to the abstention to facilitate a PP Government. With the clock ticking towards the deadline before a third general election
would have to be called, the process towards a new investiture debate sprang into action. King Felipe once again invited Rajoy to stand for election in parliament, two months after his previous failed attempt, and the debate began on Wednesday. Thursday saw the first round of voting, when Rajoy’s bid to run the country for the next four years was rejected for lack of the overall majority required at this stage in the formal process. Following the constitutional rule book, the Congreso reconvened after 48 hours, on Saturday, when the MPs were asked the same question. This time the PSOE members abstained giving Rajoy more votes in favour than against and ending Spain’s period of nearly a year with an acting government. In his speech on Wednesday Rajoy,
who will be ruling without the overall majority he enjoyed until last December’s election, offered dialogue and policy deals in exchange for a “stable, lasting, solid and reassuring” government. He recognised that this time he will have to earn his government “every day” and promised to “negotiate all decisions” and endeavour to “interpret what the people of Spain have said [in the election]”. On Thursday it was the turn of the opposition groups to respond to Rajoy’s speech before the round of voting. Socialist spokesman Antonio Hernández put on a display of political contortion. He had a tricky job, to keep his distance from the party he was going to help into power two days later, defend the position of the PSOE as the main opposition party, but go back on most of the points his party made in the last debate.
He made it clear to Rajoy, though, that the PSOE’s abstention in the investiture vote did not mean that the party would support his government’s legislation. Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias had harsh words for everyone prior to Saturday’s vote, holding his party up as the only real opposition to the “triple alliance” (referring to PP, PSOE and C’s) about to put Rajoy back in the driving seat. Rajoy will wait until Thursday before announcing his new cabinet.
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