Spain’s incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy has turned down a petition by King Felipe VI to try to form a new government following last month’s inconclusive elections.
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He is expected to propose Rajoy, whose PP won most seats but failed to gain an outright majority in the December 20 vote, as a candidate for prime minister shortly afterwards.
In a statement, the palace said the king will begin fresh talks with party leaders next Wednesday in a bid to find another candidate.
The joke made waves in Spain on Thursday, sparking mostly good-natured reactions, including from within Mr Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party (PP).
Iglesias added that the government would be composed in proportion to the election results and concluded it would be “reasonable” if the PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez led the government as prime minister while Iglesias himself assumed the post of his deputy.
Rajoy has called for a “grand coalition” of the PP, the Socialists who came in second place winning 89 seats, and new centre-right party Ciudadanos which took 40 seats.
While Rajoy is set to lose the subsequent parliamentary vote on his appointment as most parties have already said they would reject him, the move would set the clock ticking and open a two-month maximum period for the formation of a government or the prospect of new elections in May.
But with no party expressing any intention of voting for Rajoy, and with only Ciudadanos offering to abstain from voting, Rajoy chose to withdraw.
In contrast, Sanchez earlier Friday received an offer by the radical leftist Podemos group to form a coalition government.
“Change is possible. I hope the socialists will rise to the challenge”, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said on his twitter feed in reaction to Rajoy’s decision. The United Left has two. “Either you are for change or for stagnation and deadlock”, Iglesias announced after a meeting with King Felipe VI, as quoted by El Pais.
That would put their coalition some way short of a majority in the 350-seat legislature, meaning they would also need backing from regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia to form a stable administration.
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Rajoy’s popularity has plunged over the past four years in government chiefly because of party-linked corruption scandals, unpopular laws and austerity measures brought in to help get Spain out of a severe economic crisis.
