• PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez rejects Podemos’ bid for exclusive negotiations •
Dialogue between Spain’s Socialist party (PSOE) and anti-austerity party Podemos aimed at forming a new, broad-based coalition government broke down Friday afternoon, when Socialist party leader Pedro Sánchez rejected a demand by Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias that the Socialists abandon parallel talks with Spain’s new centre-right party, Ciudadanos, and negotiate exclusively with Podemos and the smaller Izquierda Unida (United Left) party.
Following a midday meeting between the two leaders, Iglesias referred to Ciudadanos as a “latent right-wing” party that supported policies which are inconsistent with the progressive coalition Sánchez is trying to build and said he told the Socialist leader to choose between negotiating with either Ciudadanos or Podemos, but not both.
In a separate press conference, Sanchez said he rejected Podemos’ “exclusive and excluding” demand and that while he is leaving the door open for further discussion, he will continue his quest to form a progressive coalition that will oust the conservative Popular Party (PP) from power, speaking with various parties to PSOE’s political right and left — including Izquierda Unida, which has made no such claim for exclusivity.
► Read the Full Story in Spanish at La Vanguardia and Público
► Read the Full Story in English at Reuters or El País …
► Watch the Pablo Iglesias press conference [in Spanish] here …
► Watch the Pedro Sánchez press conference [in Spanish] here …
