Spain PM Sanchez to seek another term in lower house

Speaking on Monday, lower house speaker Francina Armengol announced that acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain will attempt to secure a second term in a parliamentary vote on Thursday. She informed reporters that the vote would come after a parliamentary debate on Wednesday at noon local time (1100 GMT). It appears that Sanchez will easily win a second term with a clear majority of the 350 assembly members. He gained the backing of a number of regional parties, such as the pro-independence Junts and ERC, in return for a controversial bill that pardoned those charged with relating to Catalonia’s unsuccessful 2017 attempt to break away from Spain. Over the past week, thousands of opponents have taken to the streets in anticipation of the amnesty. Following a largely void July 23 election, Sanchez’s Socialist Party engaged in weeks of negotiations with smaller parties, the majority of which had backed him during his last term in 2020. Additionally, Sanchez has won the support of legislators from the hard-left Sumar, which is expected to take on a junior role in the coalition government, as well as the Basque parties PNV and EH Bildu, the left-wing BNG of Galicia, and the regionalist Canary Coalition. With that alignment, his premiership bid is predicted to receive 179 votes in favour and 171 against, with opposition coming from the 137 legislators of the conservative People’s Party, 33 legislators of the far-right Vox, and the one lawmaker of the tiny Navarre outfit UPN. (With agency inputs)