Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
MADRID, Jan 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Spain’s interim Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been backed by Catalonia’s largest separatist party to form a coalition government.
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) MPs are to abstain in a confidence vote next week, paving the way for a new term for Sánchez.
The ERC said a Sanchez-led government would hold talks on Catalonia’s future.
Spain has been racked by political uncertainty for almost a year.
The country saw two inconclusive elections last year coupled with Catalonia’s on-going drive for independence.
In November’s election, Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) won the most seats, but fell short of the 176 required for a majority in parliament.
The Socialist Party has struck a deal to form a coalition government with far-left party Podemos. Yet the Socialist Party and Podemos still don’t have a majority in parliament, meaning they need the support of other smaller parties, including the ERC.
With the ERC’s 13 seats and a possible combination of support from other leftist or Basque parties, Prime Minister Sánchez could continue in office at the head of a coalition.
The future of Catalonia, a semi-autonomous region in north-east Spain, was a major issue in last November’s election.
The election came less than a month after Spain’s Supreme Court handed out lengthy jail sentences to nine Catalan independence leaders, over their role in organising an outlawed referendum in 2017.
The move triggered protests and violence on the streets of Barcelona and other cities in Catalonia.
The Catalan crisis dominated the election campaign, with parties on the right – Vox, the PP and the centre-right Ciudadanos – taking a hard-line anti-separatist stance.
In Catalonia, the ERC won three seats more than its centre-right separatist rival, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), the party of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
The ERC voted to support a new Spanish coalition government in return for talks on independence in November last year. — NNN-AGENCIES