Spain will ‘most likely’ hold new elections on June 26: Rajoy
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says Madrid will “most likely” hold new elections in June following weeks of a political deadlock.
Rajoy told British Prime Minister David Cameron at an EU summit in Brussels that the elections will most likely be held on June 26, apparently unaware that he could be heard on camera.
“The most likely thing is that there will be elections on June 26,” Rajoy was heard telling Cameron, adding, “We have an investiture ceremony in March and I believe it will not work out.”
The remarks infuriated Socialist Party chief Pedro Sanchez who is attempting to garner support for a minority government.
“I am working for Spain to have a progressive government while others in Brussels already talk of new elections. Pitiful,” Sanchez wrote in a Twitter message.
King Felipe has named Sanchez as the candidate for the post of prime minister and asked him to form a government after Socialist Party came second in the December 20, 2015 general elections.
Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party (PP) lost its majority following the inconclusive general elections in December 2015.
Sanchez faces trouble in including one of the two new upstart parties — anti-austerity Podemos and business-friendly Ciudadanos — that came in third and fourth in the general elections in the potential government.
Podemos has rejected building a coalition government with the socialists if Sanchez also reaches out to Ciudadanos.
A parliamentary vote of confidence is scheduled for early March.
The PP won 123 seats in Spain’s 350-member lower house of parliament, losing 63 seats, while the socialists came second with 90 seats, followed by Podemos and allies with 69, and Ciudadanos with 40.
The PP needed to garner 176 seats to win a majority in parliament.
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