{"id":4421,"date":"2016-09-22T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=4421"},"modified":"2016-09-22T08:14:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T12:14:52","slug":"uncertainty-in-spain-as-parliament-struggles-to-form-new-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2016\/09\/22\/uncertainty-in-spain-as-parliament-struggles-to-form-new-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty in Spain as Parliament Struggles to Form New Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gabriela Taveras
\n<\/strong>Staff Writer\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Socialist Workers\u2019 Party of Spain (PSOE) decided earlier this fall to hold a third general election next year, <\/span>according to Politico<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Political gridlock has besieged the Spanish government since January. 85 members of Parliament from the PSOE have stood by their leader, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, in an attempt to remove current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Popular Party from power.<\/p>\n

In spite of resistance, the only explanation given for what the political alternative would be to Rajoy\u2019s party was given by Iratxe Garcia, a member of S\u00e1nchez\u2019s leadership team. Garcia stated that his party had \u201cnothing in common with Rajoy,\u201d and claimed that the Popular Party (PP) was no longer a viable government option after failing to secure a majority in the last two elections, held in December then in June.<\/p>\n

In August, Albert Rivera of the centrist Ciudadanos Party engaged Rajoy in talks concerning a potential coalition deal that would bring them up to 169 votes, or seven short of a majority. This seemingly strong union, however, would be overpowered by 180 negative votes from the PSOE and regional forces from the Basque Country and Catalonia.<\/p>\n

If Rajoy fails to receive the 176 required votes by October 31, new elections will take place on December 25. In spite of the looming disadvantage, Ciudadanos member Ignacio Aguado considers his party as the \u201cunblocking tool\u201d for the country, as both the potential coalition discussed with Rajoy\u2019s party and the agreement made with the PSOE earlier this year should make it more difficult to justify any objections during subsequent votes.<\/p>\n

According to an opinion poll conducted by the newspaper El Mundo in August, <\/span>many believe<\/span><\/a> that the political gridlock was the result of the PSOE\u2019s decades-long promotion of extreme political partisanship. The indoctrination was done through promotion of the Popular Party as a highly fascist alternative on the far right of political ideology and incompatible with the rest of Europe. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the 190,000 PSOE party members wield a power that S\u00e1nchez has benefited from in the past. For instance, in 2014, he became the first PSOE general secretary to be directly voted in by party members, a rare accomplishment among Spanish political parties.<\/p>\n

Because of this political favor, S\u00e1nchez <\/span>has used his <\/span>opposition<\/span><\/a> to Rajoy to grow even more popular with his party\u2019s membership, said Lucia Mendez, a political analyst for El Mundo.<\/span><\/p>\n

To avoid that scenario, El Mundo says that Rajoy will have to propose a viable alternative coalition before October 31. There are multiple options he would have to consider, including re-evaluating a three-way deal with Podemos and Ciudadanos, with whom he shares a common vision to combat corruption; striking a<\/span> deal with the re-founded Partit Dem\u00f2crata Catal\u00e0, the party of Carles Puigdemont, president of the Catalan region; or collaborating with the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which is currently in power with PSOE support.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, if Rajoy decides to join a coalition with the Basque PNV, he would have 175 seats. This would leave him and the PP at one seat short of an overall majority, and would represent a considerable disadvantage toward the PSOE\u2019s goal of forming a viable coalition. The longer it takes S\u00e1nchez and his party leadership to decide their next move, the likelier it seems that the holiday bells will not toll in their favor. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

El Mundo says that Rajoy will have to propose a viable alternative coalition before October 31. If Rajoy fails to receive the 176 required votes by then, new elections will take place on December 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3032,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[848,382,387],"tags":[531,850,851],"class_list":["post-4421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-september-2016","category-international-news","category-europe","tag-spain","tag-socialist-workers-party-of-spain","tag-mariano-rajoy"],"yoast_head":"\nUncertainty in Spain as Parliament Struggles to Form New Government - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2016\/09\/22\/uncertainty-in-spain-as-parliament-struggles-to-form-new-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uncertainty in Spain as Parliament Struggles to Form New Government - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"El Mundo says that Rajoy will have to propose a viable alternative coalition before October 31. 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