Spain’s Socialist leader said on Monday his party would not back acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s re-election and end an eight-month political impasse after meeting him for the final time before a confidence vote in parliament on August 31.
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Sanchez said his party would vote against Rajoy, who asked for abstention in order to form a government after the latter’s People’s Party (PP) and center-right Ciudadanos signed an agreement on Sunday.
“The formation of a government in Spain is today still more of a wish than a fact”, he told a party rally in the northwestern region of Galicia, a PP stronghold, ahead of the vote.
Rajoy will go to the first vote on Wednesday expecting not to win a majority of votes.
The agreement Sunday between Rajoy’s Popular Party and rival Ciudadanos still leaves the incumbent short of the 176 votes he will need for re-election Wednesday by the country’s new parliament.
To win Ciudadanos support, Rajoy agreed a series of anti-corruption measures and a reform of electoral law, which will favour small parties like the liberals, as well as a string of proposals such as a wage hike for low-income families and a boost in education and health budgets.
If he loses this second vote, also likely without the support of the Socialists, it would trigger a two-month window to form a government at the end of which another election would have to be called, possibly on Christmas Day.
In June, PP won the most seats in the parliamentary election, with Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) finishing second.
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Rajoy for his part said he would keep on trying to convince the Socialist party to change its mind. “And there is serious risk that we will be seen as jokers”.
