• PSOE leader’s chances to secure enough votes for coalition gov’t dwindling •
Efforts by the leader of Spain’s Socialist party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, to build a “progressive” governing coalition to unseat the conservative Popular Party (PP) after four years in power were undermined yesterday by statements from the leaders of new-left, anti-austerity Podemos party and centre-right Ciudadanos party that neither would join a tripartite coalition with PSOE.
Following meetings with Spain’s head of state, King Felipe VI, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said a PSOE-led government including Podemos and Ciudadanos was impossible because the two parties were “incompatible.” The Podemos position was further underscored when the leader of Podemos’ electoral ally partner En Comú Podem, Xavier Domènech, declared flatly that whatever Podemos chose to do, its Catalan coalition partner would not support a government that included Ciudadanos.
At the same time, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera said following his meeting with King Felipe that his party would be happy to work with Podemos in the new Congress toward passage of legislation of common interest to both parties, but could not govern jointly with Podemos because of the anti-austerity party’s support for a referendum on secession from Spain by Catalonia and its support of a possible exit of Spain from the European Union.
► Read the Full Story in Spanish at La Vanguardia …
► Read the Full Story in English at El País …
