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Spain’s Rajoy to Seek Parliament’s Support to form Government | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Spain’s King Felipe VI, left and Spain’s acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy speak before a meeting at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016.


Spain’s acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday he had accepted a mandate from King Felipe to seek parliament’s backing to form a new government and end over 10 months of political deadlock.

The Socialist party agreed on Sunday to abstain in the vote, allowing Rajoy to lead a minority government of his conservative People’s Party (PP), but they have said they will not give him a free hand in passing legislation.

“I guarantee to you that if I am invested in the vote I will work from the first day so that this government is stable and long-lasting,” Rajoy told reporters. “I am perfectly aware of the difficulties that governing in minority entails.”

The conservative Popular party (PP) of the acting prime minister, Rajoy, won elections in December 2015 and again in June this year but without enough seats to rule alone.

The parliament speaker is expected to announce when the assembly will begin debating the confidence vote later on Tuesday.

Spain’s embattled Socialists had voted to lift a longstanding veto that has prevented conservatives from forming a minority government, in what could end a 10-month political impasse.