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Political instability to continue in Spain: Pundit

Monday, 29 August 2016 7:08 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 29 August 2016 7:07 AM ]

Spain's interim Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy holds a press conference after his meeting with leader of center-right party Ciudadanos Albert Rivera at the Congress (Las Cortes) in Madrid on August 28, 2016. (AFP photo)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Javier Farje, a political commentator from London, and Lajos Szaszdi, a political analyst from San Juan, to get their views on the current stalemate in Spain.

“The political instability will remain and that means that the economy can suffer the consequences of this political instability in the year 2017,” Farje told Press TV’s program 'The Debate' on Sunday night.

“The problem in Spain’s political arena is that no party wants to take responsibility," he said, adding the People’s Party wants to throw the ball into the Socialists’ court. "Nobody wants a fair election."

Spain’s governing Conservative Party, seeking to end months of political impasse, embraced an agenda of anti-corruption measures and judicial overhaul in return for a centrist party’s agreement to support Mariano Rajoy for a second term as prime minister.

The agreement Sunday between Rajoy’s Popular Party and rival Ciudadanos still leaves the incumbent short of the 176 votes he will need for reelection by the new parliament on Wednesday.

The commentator noted if the ruling party cannot be able to get the majority and form a government, it will not strike a deal with other parties to help them form a new government.

Incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is unlikely to get enough abstention votes in the parliament, he maintained, adding that even if Rajoy could get a simple majority, the Social Party would not vote for any measures proposed by the prime minister.

He also added that other parties like the Podemos are not able to form a government due to their lack of support from other factions; "therefore, Podemos may prefer a referendum to be held in a bid to end the political stalemate."

Also attending Press TV’s 'program 'The Debate,' Szaszdi said that if a minority government comes out of the September 2nd elections, there will be no change in Spain. Because there will be no consensus among the main parties and the situation may result in a “war of attrition” in the political arena.

He also warned that “Rajoy is probably betting that they cannot form a stable government. But he is still forming an acting government and that can continue for a long time.”

Spain has been without a full-fledged government since a hung parliament elected last December failed to pick a prime minister and was dissolved. The new parliament, elected in June, is also deadlocked among four major parties, none with close to a majority of the parliament’s 350 seats.

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