Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lost a no-confidence vote and was ousted from office. Photo / AP
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lost a no-confidence vote and was ousted from office. Photo / AP
After a bitter two-day debate in parliament, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has lost a no-confidence vote and was ousted from office. He will be replaced by a leader of the opposition Socialist Party.
The votes was 180 to 169 with one abstention.
Rajoy appeared in parliament Friday morning and in a brief speech said, "I will accept the decision."
He added that, "it has been an honor to be the leader Spain and to leave it in a better state than the one I found. I believe I have satisfied my responsibility, which is to improve the lives of Spaniards. If I have offended someone in my role I ask forgiveness."
After navigating 25 percent youth unemployment, a territorial showdown with the restive Catalan region, and a financial crisis that threatened the solvency of the euro, Rajoy was brought down by the corruption scandals that have plagued his Popular Party.
Spain's National Court handed down tough sentences last week to 29 individuals, including elected officials and business leaders, linked with the party.
The court ruled that the Popular Party benefited from a wide-ranging, systematic use of kickbacks from contracts. The crimes ranged from fraud and tax evasion to money laundering.
Rajoy had testified there were no such slush funds.
The crisis in Spain comes as populist, anti-immigrant and euro-skeptical parties in Italy struggle to cobble together a government and Britain faces a decisive round of negotiations later this month to leave the European Union.
After six years in office, Rajoy is set to be replaced by the opposition Socialist Party and its leader Pedro Sánchez.
Pending publication of the no-confidence vote in the national bulletin and the formality of the king's invitation to form a government, Sanchez could be sworn in over the weekend.
Sánchez has promised to abide the 2018 budget negotiated by Rajoy and most observers do not forecast any abrupt or radical change in governing.
After six years in office, Rajoy is set to be replaced by the opposition Socialist Party and its leader Pedro Sánchez. Photo / AP
The Sánchez government will likely be a weak one, supported by two pro-independence Catalan parties, a Basque party and the populist Podemos party.
Rajoy earlier charged that Sánchez and the Socialists could not win at the polls and so sought the no-confidence vote to seize power.
"Everybody knows that Pedro Sánchez is never going to win elections and this is the reason for his motion, and this urgency," Rajoy said last week.
This view was echoed by a leader of Rajoy's Popular Party in the parliament, Rafael Hernando, who charged that it was all politics.
The "no confidence" motion is brought forward by the "reckless left that doesn't accept its defeat at the polls," he said.
Hernando reminded parliament of the successes of the outgoing government. "Thanks to the effort and the solidarity of all Spaniards, Mariano Rajoy's government avoided the bail out and steered us through the crisis."
The leader of the Socialist Party, Margarita Robles, however, told parliament Friday that they were ready to handle this difficult moment in a responsible fashion.
"The facts proved in the sentence show that the president didn't tell the truth," she said. "It's enough of covering up corruption. We are going to start a new stage."
The no-confidence motion — which needed 176 of 350 votes to pass — made strange bedfellows of 22 widely divergent parliamentary groups, including anti-establishment, left-wing national parties, the political arm of the now-defunct armed Basque separatist group ETA and regional Catalan nationalist parties hankering to negotiate an independent Catalan republic.
But the most notable party among those cobbled together to support the no-confidence vote was the right-leaning regional Basque party PNV, which just last week secured a coveted fiscal package as a prerequisite for casting the deciding votes to approve the 2018 general budget. PNV's voiced decision on Thursday to support Sánchez's motion to oust Rajoy sent Spain into a frenzy as pundits and politicians realized the government was doomed to collapse.
A successful no-confidence vote was unprecedented in Spain, where three previous attempts have failed to secure the necessary absolute majority.
Sánchez is an unlikely prime minister. He is responsible for losing two general elections for his party in 2012 and 2016, and securing the smallest parliamentary representation the historic party has ever held in Spain's democracy. Though he is nicknamed "Mr. Handsome," Sanchez heads a parliamentary bloc of only 84 in a 350-seat parliament.
The vote was brought forward on the heels of last week's National Court handing down severe sentences against 29 business people and Popular Party members, including some elected officials, for money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and other crimes. The Popular Party was fined $287,000 and Rajoy's credibility was damaged. The prime minister had testified he was unaware of the systematic corruption in his party.
On Thursday, Rajoy accused Sanchez of an opportunistic power grab and called the coalition of votes in favor of his motion a "Frankenstein government," as opposed to what others have called Rajoy's powerless administration, a "zombie government."
The main party withholding its support from the no-confidence vote is the business-friendly Ciudadanos, led by Albert Rivera — who presently leads polls as the most popular political leader. Rivera scolded Sánchez for capitalizing on the situation and not immediately calling elections.
He also warned of dangerous alliances with political groups that openly challenge the Spanish Constitution and question territorial unity.
"I don't want a corruption-plagued zombie government but neither a Frankenstein government with those who want to break Spain apart," Rivera said.
For his part, Sánchez pledged to recover stability for the country and its institutions, address urgent issues and then call general elections. More specifically, he said he would maintain the general budget approved last week — leading to chatter about how that helped seal the crucial PNV votes. He also said he would reactivate social services and infuse new life into pensions.
But most importantly, he opened the door for dialogue with Catalonia's independence-minded parties. Both of the regional parties that form the Catalan government and have representation in the national parliament welcomed Sánchez's statements about seeking a political solution to the Catalan crisis, a months-long stalemate between the Spanish government and the disobedient, rebellious regional administration.
