Spain's king nominates Pedro Sanchez as candidate to form government

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain's King Felipe VI nominated Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez to form a government on Tuesday.

Sanchez's candidacy comes after Alberto Nunez Feijoo of the conservative Popular Party failed his attempt to form a government in Spain's fractured parliament last week.

Since July's national election resulted in a hung parliament, Sanchez, Spain's acting prime minister, has been much more confident about his chances of forming a government.

"I will work to form a progressive coalition as soon as possible with enough support to guarantee the stability that this country needs," Sanchez said in a news conference on Tuesday.

However, his negotiations with separatist parties and even his left-wing allies are far from being closed.

Yolanda Diaz, Spain's current deputy prime minister and leader of the left-wing Sumar party, said on Monday that her group is still "far from reaching a deal" with the Socialists, insisting they will not give Sanchez "a blank check."

"Sanchez has less support now than a month ago," Feijoo told media after his consultations with the king on Tuesday. "We look forward to weeks of lies, obscure negotiations, and drama."

While never confirmed, it appeared that Spain's left-wing bloc was open to granting political amnesty to Catalan politicians as part of the negotiations.

However, last week, the Catalan parliament voted in favor of insisting on "working towards" an independence referendum in exchange for granting Sanchez's government support. The move has complicated negotiations, as several Socialist politicians have come out against a referendum.

On Tuesday, Sanchez said he will begin negotiations on Wednesday and will not solidify a position until he finishes speaking to all the political groups.

"What the election results revealed is that you can't lead a government without understanding political plurality or the diversity of Spain," he said. "So it's time for politics, which is something the Popular Party refused to do."

Sanchez has until the end of November to muster up majority support in parliament for his government. If he cannot, Spain will face fresh national elections.

While Sanchez has been Spain's prime minister since June 2018, the last decade of Spanish politics has been marked by political instability due to the emergence of new parties such as the far-left Podemos and the far-right Vox.

Between 2015 and 2019, Spain held four national elections.