The Spanish far-right party Vox pledged it wouldn’t impede efforts to unseat Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, potentially widening the options for the conservative People’s Party as it seeks a route to power.
(Bloomberg) — The Spanish far-right party Vox pledged it wouldn’t impede efforts to unseat Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, potentially widening the options for the conservative People’s Party as it seeks a route to power.
In a statement on Sunday, Vox said it wouldn’t seek to be an obstacle to efforts by PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo to piece together enough support for a vote in Parliament to oust Sanchez as premier.
By saying it won’t get in the way of Feijoo’s efforts to form a government, Vox could make it easier for him to negotiate with regional parties including the Basque PNV and the Canarian Coalition, which between them have six deputies.
Both groups have said they won’t back Feijoo if he’s in a formal alliance with Vox. Speaking to supporters in the Galicia region on Sunday, Feijoo said that if his party wins power, he would seek to govern alone without a formal pact with other groups.
Even with the support of Vox’s 33 deputies, most analysts see Feijoo facing an uphill task to win enough support to form a government.
Spanish elections held last month produced a gridlock as Feijoo won the most seats but not enough, even with Vox’s backing to win a parliamentary majority to unseat Sanchez. The Socialist leader, meanwhile, would need backing from the Catalan separatist parties Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana in order to remain in power.
–With assistance from Demetrios Pogkas.
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