2023-05-29 10:39:59
Policy
The Spanish government calls early legislative elections at the end of July
The surprise announcement by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez comes the day after the left suffered a heavy defeat against the Conservatives in regional and municipal elections.
Posted
“I took this decision in view of the results of yesterday’s elections,” said Prime Minister Sanchez, looking serious, from the Moncloa Palace, seat of the Spanish government.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Monday the surprise call of early legislative elections on July 23 in Spain, the day after a rout without appeal from the left against the Conservatives in a double municipal and regional vote.
During a televised address, Pedro Sanchez announced that he had communicated to King Felipe VI, the Head of State, his “decision to (…) dissolve Parliament and proceed with the calling of general elections” which will be held “ Sunday July 23.
These elections will therefore be held during the semester of Spain’s presidency of the European Council, which will begin on 1 July. The legislative elections were initially to be held at the end of the year on a date which had not yet been fixed.
“I assume the results”
“I took this decision in view of the results of yesterday’s elections,” said Prime Minister Sanchez, looking serious, from the Moncloa Palace, seat of the Spanish government. “As president of the government and as secretary of the Socialist Party, I assume the results (of Sunday) and I think that it is necessary to give an answer and to submit our democratic mandate to the popular will”, he said. added.
The victory of the conservatives of the Popular Party (PP, right) during the regional and municipal elections on Sunday exceeded the expectations, however optimistic, of the conservative formation. Of the ten regions governed by the Socialists directly or as part of a coalition and which were at stake on Sunday, the PP won six, including that of Valencia (east), one of the most populous and rich in the country.
The PP will however have to count on the support of the extreme right of Vox in five of them because it does not have an absolute majority there. The party has also strengthened itself in its two regional bastions of Madrid and Murcia (south-east) and has taken the town halls of Valencia and Seville (south), the third and fourth cities of the country.
The PP is pleased to have taken a first step towards Moncloa
“We have taken the first step” towards the Moncloa Palace, said Monday morning Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the PP and potential successor to Pedro Sanchez at the head of Spain if he wins the legislative elections.
Pedro Sanchez has presided over the Spanish government since June 2018. He then ousted the conservative Mariano Rajoy from power thanks to the filing of a motion of censure following the conviction of the PP by the courts in a mega-trial for corruption. He has governed since January 2020 in coalition with the radical left of Podemos.
(AFP)
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