MADRID (AP) — Spain’s interim Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday signed an agreement with a small Basque party that guarantees it will have enough lawmakers to run for re-election, most likely next week.
The agreement between Sanchez’s Socialist Party and the Basque Nationalist Party means Sanchez deserves to be able to count on 178 deputies, two more than the majority he wants in the 350-seat parliament to be elected as the next prime minister. been in the workplace since 2018.
On Thursday, the Socialists secured entry into parliament of a fringe Catalan separatist party led by fugitive former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in exchange for an amnesty for potentially thousands of others implicated in the region’s failed secession attempt.
Details of the amnesty plan have yet to be revealed, but it is expected to gain advantages for Puigdemont and many others, from petty government officials to citizens, who have run into legal trouble for their role in the illegal secession attempt from Catalonia that brought Spain to the breaking point. Six years ago.
The Spanish judiciary is still trying to unload Puigdemont’s extradition from Belgium. Since many Spaniards consider it an enemy of the state, any agreement that approves it is politically toxic.
The amnesty has infuriated Spain’s two main opposition parties, the center-right People’s Party and the far-right Vox group. It has also sparked discontent within the justice and police unions.
Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated in Madrid and Barcelona opposing the amnesty in recent weeks.
Violence erupted Thursday night outside the Socialist Party headquarters after four consecutive nights of protests. Bottles, beer cans and fireworks were thrown at a giant police cordon, and police used batons to disperse protests and make arrests. More protests are planned for Friday and the weekend.
Sanchez, who in the past opposed an amnesty, insists it is now mandatory to return to general political life in Catalonia and will gain advantages in Spain.
The signed agreements mean the Socialists, who won 121 seats in July’s election, can count on 57 seats from six smaller parties for the nomination vote. But it remains to be seen whether the organization will remain intact for the full four years. term.
Ciarán Giles, Associated Press
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