Spain’s parliament on Friday ousted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a
no-confidence vote sparked by fury over his party’s corruption woes,
with his Socialist arch-rival Pedro Sanchez automatically taking over.
An absolute majority of 180 lawmakers voted for the motion to loud
applause and shouts of “Yes we can,” converting Rajoy into the first
prime minister to be ousted by such a vote since Spain transitioned to
democracy in 1977.
The bespectacled 63-year-old leader got up and shook hands with Sanchez before leaving the lower house without a word.
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Rajoy had already admitted defeat minutes before the vote, knowing
that an absolute majority of lawmakers as diverse as Catalan separatists
and Basque nationalists had pledged their support for the no-confidence
motion.
“It’s been an honour — there is none bigger — to have been Spain’s
prime minister,” he told parliament, with lawmakers from his
conservative Popular Party (PP) giving him a standing ovation.
Sanchez, Spain’s 46-year-old opposition leader, had instigated the
no-confidence motion last week after a court revealed details of a vast
system of bribes given to former PP officials in exchange for lucrative
public contracts between 1999-2005.
After years of anger over the scandals tainting the PP, corruption
finally got the better of the party and sealed Rajoy’s downfall.
“Today we are signing a new page in the history of democracy in our country,” Sanchez told parliament prior to the vote.
But PP lawmaker Rafael Hernando told him he would be entering the
prime minister’s office “through the back door” after failing to win
2015 and 2016 general elections.
“For the first time we may get a prime minister who didn’t win elections,” he retorted.
– Tough ride for Sanchez –
In order to push through the no-confidence motion, the Socialists, who
hold just 84 of the parliament’s 350 seats, had to cosy up to parties
they had previously clashed with, like Catalan separatists and the
anti-establishment Podemos.
As such, even if he has pledged to govern long enough to restore
“institutional stability” before calling early elections, Sanchez’s new
government will likely be highly unstable.
Podemos has already asked to be part of his new government.
Aitor Esteban of the Basque PNV nationalist party, whose support
proved decisive for the motion’s success, on Thursday warned that such a
minority government would be “weak and difficult, complicated.”
“This is going to be a constant bing, bang, boom.”
– A scandal too far –
Although Rajoy survived a similar no-confidence vote last year, Friday’s
ballot draws a line under his rollercoaster time in office which began
in 2011 and saw him implementing drastic spending cuts before winning
re-election in 2015 and 2016.
Despite winning the last two votes, he lacked the absolute majority of his first term.
He put Spain back onto the path of growth after a devastating
economic crisis although unemployment remains sky-high, jobs precarious
and many complain inequalities have risen.
But his term in office was also marred by a series of corruption scandals involving former PP members.
Last week the National Court, which deals with major criminal cases,
sentenced 29 people with links to the PP, including a former treasurer,
to a total of 351 years in jail.
It also ordered the party to pay back 245,000 euros ($290,000) received from the scheme to help finance election campaigns.
– ‘What moral authority’? –
Rajoy became Spain’s first sitting prime minister to give evidence at trial when he was called as a witness last year.
In its ruling, the court said the credibility of Rajoy’s testimony “should be questioned”.
During Thursday’s pre-vote debate, Rajoy said the corruption case
“does not concern members of the government” and repeated the party’s
argument that only a tiny number of its politicians have been tainted by
corruption.
He also hit back by listing the many graft cases involving the Socialists over the years.
“Are you Mother Teresa of Calcutta? With what moral authority do you speak?” he told Sanchez.
