Spain's Feijoo kicks off long-shot bid to form government

By Belén Carreño and Emma Pinedo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's right-wing opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Tuesday accused his rivals of undermining the country's democratic institutions as he launched a likely fruitless bid to form a government.

Feijoo's People's Party (PP) won the most seats in July's election but has so far failed to cobble together enough support for a parliamentary majority despite the backing of the hard right Vox party.

With his chances of forming a government slim, Feijoo used the debate to attack acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist party (PSOE), who has a more realistic chance but only by securing the support of the Catalan separatist party, Junts.

In exchange for their votes, Junts seek a controversial amnesty for pro-independence leaders and activists involved in a 2017 attempt to separate Catalonia from Spain. Feijoo said he was offered the same terms by Junts but turned them down.

"I have the votes within my reach to become Prime Minister. But I do not accept paying the price they are asking me to pay," Feijoo told lawmakers.

Debating began on Tuesday, with a vote requiring an absolute majority to come on Wednesday. Feijoo will get a second vote on Friday, which only requires a simple majority.

Sanchez did not take the stand after Feijoo. Instead, the Socialists nominated lawmaker Oscar Puente, former Valladolid mayor, who was ousted by a coalition of the People's Party and far-right VOX, to respond to Feijoo.

"Neither you nor I won the elections. I acknowledged my defeat despite receiving the most votes," Puente told Feijoo in a heated debate with jeers in the chamber as some lawmakers called Sanchez a "coward".

If, as expected, Feijoo fails, Sanchez will have two months from Wednesday to make his bid before parliament is dissolved and fresh elections are called.

With the support of Vox (33 seats) and regional parties Union of the Navarran People (1 seat) and Canarian Coalition (1 seat), the People's Party could secure 172 votes, four short of a majority in the 350-seat chamber.

Other smaller parties have refused to lend their votes, saying they would not want to facilitate a coalition featuring a far right party.

The PSOE can probably count on 171 seats with the support of the far-left Sumar party, the Catalan pro-independence party Esquerra, the Basque separatists EH Bildu, the Basque Nationalist Party and the Galician Nationalist Bloc.

Seven votes from Junts would therefore be enough to secure a majority.

Get The App

Join the millions of people who stay on top of global financial markets with Investing.com.

Download Now

In his speech, Feijoo outlined the policy proposals he would carry out as prime minister, including lowering taxes for entrepreneurs and low- and middle-income earners and devising a plan to capture foreign investment.

He also proposed the introduction of a bill to make "institutional disloyalty" a crime after Sanchez last year struck down a sedition law.