Madrid, Aug 17 (AFP/APP): Spain’s new parliament began meeting Thursday after an inconclusive July election with lawmakers to choose a new speaker in a closely-watched vote in which the hardline Catalan separatist party JxCat will play a key role.
Thursday’s vote is widely seen as a trial run ahead of a crucial investiture vote — which determines who forms the government — expected next month.
During the July polls, neither the left nor the right won the 176 mandates for a working majority in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies — with each side only able to amass the cross-party support of 171 lawmakers.
That has put JxCat in an influential position, for how its seven lawmakers vote — both on Thursday and in the investiture vote — could be decisive.
Shortly before the session began at 0800 GMT, Spanish media reports said JxCat had reached a last-minute deal to back Francina Armengol, the Socialist candidate proposed by the acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“Everything suggests Francina Armengol will get more votes than Cuca Gamarra, ” public television said, referring to the candidate proposed by Alberto Nunez-Feijoo’s right-wing Popular Party (PP), which came first in the election.
If confirmed, it would be a win for Sanchez and a step towards him being re-elected as prime minister, although analysts said he would still have a tough road ahead.