Leader of Spain’s Socialist Party Wins By Two-Vote Margin to Remain Prime Minister

This appeared in The Millennial Source

On Tuesday, January 7, Spain’s congress narrowly voted to reelect Pedro Sánchez, leader of the nation’s Socialist Party, as the nation’s prime minister. Sánchez had been acting as the country’s caretaker prime minister since June 2, 2018, after the previous prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, resigned following a no confidence vote.

Between Rajoy’s resignation and Tuesday’s vote, Spain had held two general elections, one in March 2019 and the second in November 2019.

Two separate votes in congress

Sánchez received 167 votes in favor of his being reelected prime minister, enough to secure his win. The results had been expected. There were 165 votes against him with 18 voting to abstain from voting. Sánchez is the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (known as the PSOE, from its Spanish name, Partido Socialista Obrero Español).

Tuesday’s vote followed a prior vote on Sunday in which Sánchez failed to attain the 176 votes necessary to win the majority of Spain’s 350 parliamentary seats. In the second vote, Sánchez only needed to receive more yes votes than no votes.