(CN) — Amid protests over his ploy to stay in power through an alliance with Catalan and Basque secessionists, Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez secured a second term in office on Thursday after he obtained a slim majority in a parliamentary vote.
Sánchez got the support of 179 members of Spain's 350-seat powerful lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies, giving him a narrow majority. He is expected to be sworn in by Spain’s King Felipe VI on Friday.
The 51-year-old Sánchez and his center-left Socialists will form a minority government with Sumar, a left-wing party, and rely on the votes of Catalan and Basque independence parties to pass legislation.
In 2020, Sánchez formed Spain's first coalition government since the 1930s by joining forces with Unidas Podemos, a far-left party that fractured last year and morphed into Sumar.
After polls and regional elections showed Spain's right-wing forces on the rise, Sánchez gambled and called early elections for July.
Surprisingly, his right-wing rivals — the center-right Popular Party and the far-fight Vox — did worse than expected and fell short of enough votes to form a majority. Both conservative parties vehemently oppose the Catalan and Basque independence drives, a position that left them unable to form alliances with Catalan and Basque parties.
This left the door open for Sánchez to work with the Basque and Catalan parties and he gained their crucial support in Thursday's investiture vote.
But his new government faces numerous challenges, chief among them widespread anger over an amnesty deal Sánchez signed with Catalan leaders.
Under the deal, hundreds of politicians, activists, public officials and police facing legal action stemming from the failed Catalan independence movement would be shielded from prosecution.
There have been nightly protests outside the Socialist headquarters in Madrid over the deal. At times, the protests have turned violent, with far-right activists clashing with police.
Opposition politicians and critics decry the proposed amnesty law as illegal and unconstitutional. Conservative Spanish judges have spoken out against the law, too. The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has added its voice to the debate and said the law raises “serious concerns.” The European Parliament will debate the law next week.
Anger against Sánchez is so fierce also because he had said until recently that it would be unconstitutional to pass an amnesty bill. He changed his stance after it became impossible to avoid new elections without making concessions to the Basque and Catalan parties.
Now, Sánchez argues that amnesty will help unite Spain.
“In the name of Spain and its interests and in the defense of coexistence between Spaniards, we’re going to grant an amnesty,” Sánchez said in a speech Wednesday in Parliament. “This amnesty will benefit many people, political leaders whose ideas I do not share and whose actions I reject, but also hundreds of citizens who were swept up in the process.”
His opponents, though, warn his willingness to work with independence parties will only give more energy to the secessionist drives and lead to more conflict in Spain.
The risks for Sánchez were made clear on Thursday as Basque and Catalan leaders said the prime minister must listen to their demands.
“Just because we support you today does not mean that we are owned by your government,” said Mertxe Aizpurua, a parliamentary spokeswoman for Bildu, a Basque party. She said Sánchez had not been given a “blank check.”
Míriam Nogueras, a parliamentary leader for Together for Catalonia, underlined that her party's support for Sánchez was not unconditional.
“If we are here today it is to make things really change,” Nogueras said. “But if there is no progress, we will not approve any initiative presented by your government. It is linked to progress and compliance with agreements.”
Sánchez has been prime minister since 2018 and during his time at the helm he has made major symbolic gestures. He ordered the removal of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's body from a massive mausoleum outside Madrid, pardoned Catalonia's pro-independence leaders and scrapped an archaic sedition law used to imprison Catalan politicians.
On economic and social policies, his coalition government pushed up minimum wages, cracked down on Spanish businesses' exorbitant use of short-term work contracts, strengthened trade union rights, put caps on rent increases and gas prices, provided struggling farmers with millions in subsidies, made many train rides free to ease the pain of inflation, mandated sex education in schools, strengthened abortion and transgender rights and passed tough sexual consent laws.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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