Elisa Menendez
SIX MPs will decide the fate of Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as debates over a no-confidence motion started today.
Basque nationalist party, the PNV, have just announced it will support the motion adding five MPs to PSOE’s 165-strong coalition.
The vote, which will take place tomorrow after a two-day debate, could see the collapse of the PP government which has been in power for six years.
Opposition party the PSOE, filed the motion following a string of corruption scandals with hopes to unseat the Prime Minister and replace him with Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez.
Sanchez urged the Prime Minister to quit while he’s ahead today in congress, before his future is decided tomorrow.
“Resign and this will all be over,” he insisted.
The PSOE, who need 176 votes to oust Rajoy but only hold 84 seats, have secured support from main opposition parties Podemos, the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Coalicio Compromis, Nueva Canarias and now the PNV.
Currently there are 170 seats against Rajoy, 170 in favour and 10 in doubt, meaning the Socialists need just six votes to clinch the deal.
And the decision lies in the hands of Catalunyan separatist party, PDeCAT and Basque nationalist party, EH Bildu.
The Prime Minister’s second no-confidence motion this year comes after the ruling of the Gurtel case, which saw former officials of Rajoy’s party guilty of operating a slush fund, making him the first serving leader in Spain to testify in a criminal case.
Rajoy staunchly defended his government this morning and accused Sanchez of using the motion as an ‘opportunistic’ act following previous poor election results.
“You have to become the head of government the way the rest of us did, by winning an election,” he told Sanchez.
Sources revealed ahead of the debate that the Catalunyan and Basque parties were considering siding with the PSOE.
The only scenario in which the Basques would not join the PSOE would be if the Catalan separatists backed away at the last minute.
