Spain's Sanchez wins support for PM bid amid anger over Catalan amnesty
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[November 11, 2023]
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro
Sanchez looked assured of another term in office on Friday after
securing the backing of two more regional parties, but it comes amid
widespread anger over his pledge of amnesty for Catalan separatists.
The confirmed support of the National Basque Party (PNV) and the
Canaries' Coalition, along with that of Catalan separatist party Junts
confirmed on Thursday, would give Sanchez an absolute majority in the
350-member lower house in a vote due to take place in the coming days.
"We have managed to secure a majority that will make possible the
investiture of Pedro Sanchez," acting minister for parliamentary
relations Felix Bolanos said in an interview with SER radio station.
The more complicated deal was the one secured on Thursday with Junts,
which includes passing a contentious law granting amnesty to those
convicted over Catalonia's attempt to secede from Spain in 2017.
"We have very far apart and different positions but this deal means we
are doing our best to understand each other. Spain and Catalonia deserve
that," Bolanos said.
Opinion polls have painted a picture of a country divided over the
question of amnesty, even within the ranks of the Socialist Party.
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A Metroscopia survey in September showed 70% of Spaniards – including
59% of Socialist supporters - were against an amnesty.
Another poll in mid-October for La Sexta TV, however, suggested the
country was more evenly divided, with 50.8% rejecting the amnesty and
49% backing it - though support reached 70% within Catalonia.
On Nov. 5, a Sigma Dos survey similarly found that 51% would reject an
amnesty - including 40% of socialist voters.
After an inconclusive election held on July 23, Sanchez's Socialist
Party spent weeks negotiating with smaller parties including far-left
platform Sumar and Catalan, Galician and Basque nationalist parties,
most of which had supported Sanchez early in 2020 for his previous term.
With Junts and PNV and the national and regional left-wing parties,
Sanchez would win an absolute majority of 178 out of 350 lawmakers.
Later on Friday, the Socialist Party added one vote more to its wide
coalition after Canary Islands' regionalist party Coalicion Canaria also
agreed to back Sanchez.
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![](../images/111123PIX/news_i84.jpg)
Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends a press
conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
and European Council President Charles Michel on the day of the
informal meeting of European heads of state or government, in
Granada, Spain October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
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Bolanos said the Catalan amnesty law would help ease tension in
Catalonia as it would free school directors, firefighters and other
civil servants who helped organise an illegal referendum on the
region's independence in 2017 from legal proceedings.
The most divisive aspect of the proposed amnesty though is it would
allow Catalan separatist leaders such as Junts head Carles
Puigdemont, who fled the country in the wake of the referendum and a
short-lived unilateral independence declaration, to run for office
again.
Sanchez's conservative opponents have accused him of putting the
rule of law on the line for his own political gain. Spanish judges
have also said an amnesty would be a violation of the principles of
constitutional checks and balances.
A police group, APROGC, on Friday said it was ready to "shed every
last drop of our blood" to defend the "sovereignty and independence
of Spain", prompting the Interior Ministry to order an investigation
into whether the group breached police neutrality, according to
newspaper El Mundo.
As a deal between Junts and the Socialists edged nearer in the past
week, the mood in the country became increasingly febrile, with
protesters clashing with police outside the Socialists' headquarters
in Madrid each evening.
Police fired rubber bullets, 24 people were arrested and seven
police officers were lightly wounded on Thursday evening,
authorities said, as officers tried to break up the demonstration.
(Reporting by Belen Carreno, Emma Pinedo, Inti Landauro, David
Latona and Jessica Jones; Editing by Aislinn Laing, Toby Chopra,
Nick Macfie, Hugh Lawson and Andrea Ricci)
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