• PSOE caretaker committee leans toward abstention to seat Rajoy gov’t
• PP leaders say abstention not enough, support in Congress also necessary
As the administrative caretaker committee governing Spain’s Socialist party (PSOE) engages in internal debate over the circumstances under which it might abstain to enable acting-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) to form the next government, the PP appears to be hardening its bargaining position with some leaders saying the party wants more from the PSOE than a simple “technical abstention” that would enable a weak PP minority government.
After having pleaded for weeks for the PSOE to abstain and enable Rajoy to form a government, leading PP figures are now saying that a simple abstention vote is no longer enough and the PP now wants the Socialists to agree to support the PP on key votes in Congress that would include approval of a federal budget. A thinly veiled threat from the PP appears to be that without such an agreement, Rajoy might refuse to stand again for another confidence vote in Congress, running out the clock on the 60-day period from his failed attempt at end-August and sending the country to third elections — something which the PSOE caretaker committee led by Asturian President Javier Fernández has made clear the Socialists wish to avoid.
Although Rajoy himself has come out and said he will place no conditions on the PSOE in exchange for its abstention, PP spokespersons have indicated the conservative party will not take a decision as to whether Rajoy will step forward for another Congressional vote on his candidacy to lead the next government until the PSOE’s Federal Committee meets in the coming days to decide its position vis a vis an abstention vote. The PSOE’s Federal Committee voted 132-107 in its last meeting on Saturday to reject former party leader Pedro Sánchez’s refusal to abstain and his call for leadership elections to ratify or reject his position, but left a final decision on abstention to a second committee meeting to be held within the next two weeks.
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