Spain’s Socialist house speaker candidate wins support from Catalan groups

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Socialist party on Thursday won support from Catalan separatist parties in parliament’s lower house for its candidate to be speaker, a development that could lead to its first victory in the quest to form a new government.

After an inconclusive election on July 23, newly elected legislators were assembling on Thursday to pick the speaker in a vote. The centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has proposed Francina Armengol for the job.

Catalonia’s left-wing separatist party Esquerra Republicana reached an agreement with the PSOE to back Armengol, party leader Gabriel Ruffian told a news conference.

Rival separatist party Junts also struck a deal in principle to back Armengol, according to state broadcaster TVE and a number of other media.

Far-left alliance Sumar, the fourth-largest group in parliament, has said from the beginning it would back the PSOE.

A victory for the Socialist party – which came second in the July election – over the speaker would be an indicator of whether Sanchez could clinch the new term he is seeking.

Sanchez, who first took power in 2018, has ruled since early 2020 thanks to a minority coalition with the far-left Podemos party, which merged with other groups into Sumar.

Esquerra’s Rufian said the agreement on the speaker did not imply support for the formation of a Sanchez government.

“It has nothing to do with the investiture,” he said.

The conservative People’s Party won more seats than the Socialists in July but did not secure an outright majority and faces an uphill battle as it so far lacks enough support to form a government.

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