Sánchez reelected as Spanish prime minister despite controversy over mass amnesty
MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was reelected by legislators in a parliamentary vote Thursday that allows him to form a new minority leftist coalition government.
Sánchez was backed by 179 lawmakers in the 350-seat lower house of parliament. Only right-wing opposition deputies voted against him.
The vote came after nearly two days of debate among party leaders that centered almost entirely on a highly controversial amnesty deal for Catalonia’s separatists that Sánchez agreed to in return for vital support for his reelection.
Sánchez won the vote after clinching the backing of six smaller parties — including two Catalan separatist parties — in recent weeks, enabling him to form another minority coalition government with the left-wing Sumar (Joining Forces) party.
Spain’s inconclusive national elections on July 23 left a highly fractured parliament. The center-right Popular Party received the most votes but failed to get enough support to form a government because of its alliances with the far-right Vox party, which finished third.
Sánchez’s Socialists finished second with 121 seats. It remains to be seen whether he can maintain enough support to last the next four years.
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The amnesty deal that the Socialists signed with two key Catalan parties that command 14 votes would wipe the slate clean for hundreds of Catalan separatists in legal trouble after the northeast region’s illegal 2017 secession bid, which sparked Spain’s biggest crisis in decades.
The amnesty law would benefit former Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont, who is a fugitive from Spanish law and considered public enemy No. 1 by many Spaniards.
Despite lingering disagreements, the two Catalan parties as well as two Basque ones said they would back Sánchez on Thursday but let him know that he must fulfill the economic and political deals reached with each of them.
The two Basque parties pointed out that their support was also key to keeping a progressive government in power and making sure the right wing remained out of office.
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The deals with the Catalan parties include opening talks on the possibility of holding an authorized referendum for independence for the wealthy northeast region, but within the legal framework of Spain’s Constitution. Sánchez has repeatedly said he would not permit a vote that could break up Spain.
Oriol Bartomeus, professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said that because Sánchez has made it over the hurdle of forming a government, he has a chance, albeit a small one, to keep the coalition afloat for the full term.
“There is a possibility that it can last because it is very difficult, almost impossible, to win a no-confidence vote against this government,” Bartomeus said, pointing to the only successful no-confidence vote in history, in 2018, when Sánchez replaced his conservative predecessor.
“That said, this government will be very unstable because [the two Catalan parties] that have supported its formation have done so with strings attached.”
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The amnesty proposal has been heavily criticized by Spain’s judiciary, which considers it a violation of the separation of powers. The European Union is reviewing it.
The proposal sparked street protests backed by the Popular Party and Vox, which accuse Sánchez of betraying the nation just to stay in power. Protests outside the Socialist party’s headquarters in Madrid turned ugly last week and again Wednesday night.
“The only real reproach that the right makes against us is that with these agreements we will have won the government. Which is what is going to happen today,” Sánchez said before the vote.
“The amnesty is the worst way to start the legislature,” Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the Popular Party, said after Sánchez received an ovation from his Socialists for having won reelection.
The speaker of the house will now convey the result to King Felipe VI. Once published in the State Gazette, Sánchez will be sworn in as the new prime minister before the king, most likely Friday.
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Sánchez received congratulations from European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said on X, formerly Twitter, that she looked “forward to working together” and to “bring forward the European project.”
Sánchez’s government will continue to oversee the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery program, with a focus on a green energy transformation to adapt to climate change.
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