MADRID: After weeks of wrangling, Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has eventually clinched a vote in the parliament to lead Spain for another tenure as Prime Minister, Western media reported on Thursday.
Pedro Sánchez has secured a four-seat majority in the 350-seat house, following sealing an amnesty deal for Catalans involved in a failed bid to secede from Spain.
The conservative Popular Party won polls in July, but Alberto Núñez Feijóo failed to form a majority in the parliament. Pedro Sánchez told legislators that the amnesty deal would aid “heal injuries”.
His dependance on two Catalan pro-independence political parties to form a majority has infuriated rivals, who argue his proposed amnesty deal for hundreds of political leaders and workers will trigger another bid for secession and threaten Spain’s territorial unity.
Spain: Pedro Sánchez Wins New Term as Prime Minister
Socialist lawmakers commended their leader as the result of the vote was confirmed but legislators were booed by protest demonstrators as they filed out of the Spanish Congress building.
Earlier, tens of thousands of Spaniards participated in protests across the country, and Mr Feijóo has alleged the PM of pursuing his own interests instead of country.
In parliament on Thursday, Pedro Sánchez linked attempts to question the legality of his new government to part of international trend.
Much of the country’s judiciary has criticized the suggestions and the main judges’ association, which is considered conservative, has denounced it as the “start of the end of democracy”.
Sánchez has dismissed claims that his government is dependent on parties that want to break up the country and he will be sworn in by the king on Friday.
