PSOE has the ability to decide the future of Spanish government but may not have the will

WITH the resignation of Pedro Sanchez as leader of the PSOE, the second largest party in the Cortes, a number of options exist, none of which are likely to do anything for party unity.

A large number of PSOE executives believe that the only way forward is to allow Mariano Rajoy to form a minority government which he could do if the opposition was to abstain from any vote of confidence in Rajoy which is something that Mr Sanchez was totally opposed to.

He argued that it would be completely wrong for his party to allow the PP to return to government officially despite the fact that this seemed to be acting against the wishes of both the general public and many within the party leadership.

Now with Sanchez gone and no leader other than a guiding executive, there are still difficult decisions to be made. 

The PSOE party has seen its support in local elections continue to drop but it only rules in certain provinces due to support from other left wing parties including Podemos and their leader Pablo Iglesias has made it clear that in the event that PSOE decide to abstain from any vote of confidence then it is likely that his party will withdraw its support in Aragón, the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

Other PSOE leaders are divided in their wishes as they don’t want to see the PP in power officially but equally believe that their party will do even worse should there be a third election and hope that they will be able to wring concessions from Mr Rajoy in order for them to abstain.

Recent images of the interim government front bench following the resignation of Sanchez made them look like the ‘cats who had swallowed the cream’ but all is not well as continued problems emerge with regards to alleged corruption and on Monday October 3 the Committee on Regional Development and Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Union invited the Commission to present a proposal to suspend European Structural and Investment Funds in two Member States (Portugal and Spain) due to their continually missing financial targets.

All in all, the PSOE having no leader and being run by a committee has until October 31 to decide whether to allow the PP to rule or whether to hold out for a third election.