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Spain’s conservative opposition has been given the first chance to try to form a government by the king after an inconclusive general election, even though it did not have enough support at the time of the announcement on Tuesday.
The opposition People’s party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, won the most seats in the July election, but neither it nor acting Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez emerged with an obvious path to a parliamentary majority.
Sánchez has insisted that he is the only person who can achieve the majority needed in the 350-seat parliament for him to secure another term — and wants to do so by striking pacts with a five smaller regional and separatist parties as well as Sumar, a leftwing group that is his preferred coalition partner.
But the royal household signalled that Sánchez had not locked in sufficient support, even though those parties backed his choice for speaker of congress last week with 178 votes, two more than an absolute majority.
In a statement that followed two days of talks between King Felipe VI and political leaders, the royal household said: “In the consultation procedure carried out by [the king], it has not been established that there is at present a sufficient majority for the investiture [of a new prime minister].”
As a result, it said, there was no reason to abandon the custom of letting the party with the most seats in parliament make the first attempt to form a government.
More to follow on this story
