Spain's caretaker socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces a knife-edge vote in parliament which could enable him to govern in coalition with far-left Podemos, reports BBC. The dramatic open vote, by a simple majority of MPs, is under way now. Abstentions by Catalan and Basque MPs will play a critical role. The margin could be just one vote.
It would be Spain's first coalition government since democracy was restored in 1978, after the Franco dictatorship. But it would still be a minority government, making the passage of legislation difficult, as Mr Sánchez's Socialist Party (PSOE) has 120 seats and Podemos 35 - short of a majority in the 350-seat parliament. The vote - or abstention - of each MP in turn is being read out in the chamber, live on TV.
Addressing MPs before the vote, Mr Sánchez said such a coalition was "the only option" for Spain, after five elections in recent years. "Either a progressive coalition, or more deadlock for Spain," he warned them. On Sunday Mr Sánchez lost a first confidence vote, when he failed to get an absolute majority in parliament to form a coalition government. He got 166 "yes" votes, against 165 "no", short of the 176 he needed.
The extraordinary nature of this vote is underlined by the case of Aina Vidal, a Podemos MP who is in severe pain with cancer and had to miss Sunday's vote. She turned up for Tuesday's crucial vote, despite her illness.
PSOE spokeswoman Adriana Lastra accused right-wing MPs of "bullying". She said MP Tomás Guitarte of the small Teruel Existe party had suffered so much pressure that he concealed his whereabouts out of fear. She said he had received more than 8,000 emails urging him to vote "no" instead of "yes". Spain's politics was unstable last year, with two inconclusive elections in April and November.
The PSOE won again in November, but were weakened, taking 120 seats - three fewer than in April. The new far-right Vox party surged to third place, deepening Spain's political fragmentation.
The PSOE has struck a deal which could produce a narrow win for Mr Sánchez on Tuesday: the 13 MPs from Catalonia's largest separatist party, the ERC, plan to abstain, as do the five from a Basque party, Bildu. The ERC decision came after Mr Sánchez agreed to open a formal dialogue on the future of Catalonia if he is confirmed as prime minister, and to then submit the dialogue's conclusions to Catalan voters.
The Catalan separatists' drive for independence overshadows Spanish politics, with the conservative and far-right opposition parties bitterly opposed to it. Mr Sánchez said he wanted to free Spanish politics of its "toxic atmosphere". He said dialogue was necessary to "overcome the territorial disputes, always in line with the constitution".
The PSOE is also opposed to granting Catalans a legal independence referendum, while recognising that both Catalonia and the Basque Country are nations within Spain, and not just regions. The Catalans and Basques already have a large degree of autonomy. The opposition centre-right Popular Party (PP) leader, Pablo Casado, attacked the proposed coalition led by Mr Sánchez, saying he had "abandoned his constitutional obligations".
He accused Mr Sánchez of acting as an "extremist" - not a moderate - by allying himself with the far left and the Basque and Catalan nationalists, without explaining that to the Spanish people. "You lied and this stigma accompanies the government at its birth," he said.
Socialist MPs returned to Madrid from the provinces en masse on Monday, after the Epiphany holiday, anxious to avoid any transport delay which could stop them from voting, the daily El País reported.If Mr Sánchez wins the vote, he plans to hold his inaugural cabinet meeting on Friday.
