The first victory of the left in Spain

Socialist Party candidate Franthina Armengol was elected speaker of parliament by vote of Catalan separatists after a deal with Pedro Sanchez.

Yesterday, the election of the Socialist Party candidate, Frantina Armengol, to the presidency of the Spanish Parliament is a victory for the outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as it seems to increase the chances that the new Spanish government will obtain the necessary parliamentary support.

52-year-old Franchina Armengol received 178 votes, more than an absolute majority in the 350-member parliament.

Among them are apparently the seven votes of the Junts per Catalunya (JxCat, Together for Catalonia) party that represents the harshest current of Catalan nationalism.

The result of the vote confirms the information published by the Spanish media yesterday morning about a last-minute agreement in principle between the Socialist Party and the small Catalan party.

Junts per Catalunya is the party of separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, exiled in Belgium and wanted by Spanish justice since 2017 for his failed attempt to separate Catalonia from Spain.

Without JxCat’s 7 votes, the PS and its allies would have had just 171 votes, one short of the bloc likely to support the People’s Party which came first in the July 23 election.

Vote of confidence

Those elections did not produce a clear result regarding who will form the government, but yesterday’s vote to elect the Speaker of Parliament can be considered a measure as negotiations continue between the parties to form a new government.

The vote of confidence must take place in late August or early September.

In yesterday’s vote, the candidate of the conservative People’s Party, Coca Jamara, received 139 votes, while the far-right Vox party, which is allied with the People’s Party in many Spanish regions, supported its candidate, Ignacio Gil, with 33 votes.

People’s party

In the July elections, the Popular Party led by Alberto Núñez Viejo won more seats than the Socialist Party, but not an outright majority.

So Sanchez’s Socialist Party will now seek to form a government with the support of left-wing partner Somar and a number of smaller parties, including Catalan separatists Esquera Republiana (ERC) and Gontes.

Armengol was leader of the Catalan-speaking region of the Balearic Islands from 2015 to June 2023, ruling in coalition with Podemos and the Egyptian Red Crescent Party.

The ERC leader, Gabriel Ruffian, said that although the party supported the socialist candidate for the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, it was not supported to form a Sanchez government.

He added that his party had obtained many concessions from the socialists in return for its support, among them an agreement to use Catalan as the official language in Spanish institutions such as the judiciary and parliament.

No more oppression

The Socialist Party also agreed to set up a commission to investigate the wiretapping scandal and vowed to “end the crackdown” by Spanish courts against separatists involved in the failed 2017 coup attempt.

The deals the Socialists made with Junts to elect a president are not disclosed, but it is known that he calls for a new independence referendum in Catalonia and an amnesty for the leaders of the 2017 separatist movement.

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