• Rajoy tells Coalición Canaria leaders he’ll most likely seek ‘minority’ gov’t
• Sánchez may need second PSOE approval for second-round vote against Rajoy
Taking a public hard-line on the investiture of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) leader Mariano Rajoy as Spain’s next prime minister, the federal leadership of the Socialist party (PSOE) continues to insist it will vote against Rajoy and will not abstain to enable him to easily take office with less than an absolute majority of 176 seats in a second round of voting.
As Rajoy hosts a series of meetings with the leaders of conservative and centre-right parties to try to put together a ruling coalition following the 26th June general election, regional Socialist leaders meeting with PSOE general secretary Pedro Sánchez say the party will vote against Rajoy in first-round investiture balloting.
Meeting on Tuesday with the leaders of Coalición Canaria (CC) regional party, Rajoy said he was prepared to abandon his earlier bid for a ‘gran coalition’ to include the Socialists and would most likely seek a PSOE abstention to enable him to form a minority government with the support of the CC and other parties.
The Socialist leadership is adamant that it will vote ‘No’ to Rajoy in first-round balloting and party leader Pedro Sánchez is expected to receive backing for that position from regional PSOE leaders in a meeting of the party’s Federal Committee on Saturday. But, regional leaders meeting individually with Sánchez on Tuesday were less clear whether a second-round ‘No’ vote against Rajoy or an abstention of all or some of the PSOE deputies were possible, or whether either case would require a second meeting of the Socialists’ Federal Committee in order for Sánchez to take a decision on the second-round vote.
► Read More in Spanish at La Vanguardia and El País …
► Read More in English at Spanish News Today …
