01.09.2016 - 00:20
Spain’s acting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, still stands tantalisingly close to a new term in power, after nine months of political stalemate and two inconclusive elections.
His conservative Popular Party (PP) won both elections but fell short of a clear majority – and he will most likely fail to get enough parliamentary support in a confidence vote this week.
He came to power in 2011 and steered Spain back from the brink of economic meltdown with harsh doses of austerity. But unemployment remained stubbornly high and the PP got mired in a corruption scandal.
The uncompromising Mr Rajoy this month broke his habit of remaining motionless, signing a 150-point political pact with the centrist, anti-corruption Ciudadanos (Citizens) party.
Yet he still needs the second-largest party in Congress, the Socialists (PSOE), to abstain in the confidence vote, in order to win a simple majority.
Christmas but no cheer?
So instead of a political coronation it looks set to be a humiliation, as the PSOE said it would vote against him.
That could deepen the sense of political pantomime, setting up a Christmas Day general election for an unenthusiastic electorate, because of the parliamentary calendar.
Congress Speaker Ana Pastor, a former PP minister, fixed 31 August as the date for the confidence vote – and so set the clock ticking towards that most unwanted Christmas gift, whether by accident or Machiavellian design.
