As expected, the opposition
center-left Socialists abstained from the vote to allow the formation of the
government to avoid a third parliamentary election in a year.
The ruling conservatives had
governed Spain
since 2011 and won the parliamentary elections in December, but fell short of a
majority. They still remained short
after gaining seats after Spanish voters returned to the polls in June. A centrist pro-business party then agreed to
form a coalition government with conservatives in exchange for reforms. Without hope of winning a third election, the
Socialists ousted their leader who had opposed abstention for the confidence
vote.
Since Spain ’s return to representative
rule in 1975, the constitutional monarchy has never had a coalition government,
as the conservatives and Socialists have dominated Spanish politics. However, a minority government is not
unprecedented, as the previous conservative Prime Minister did govern
successfully with a minority executive.
Spanish
voters reelected the conservatives, despite the ruling center-right party’s austerity policy that was
necessitated by Spain ’s
sovereign debt crisis, which was a significant part of the debt crisis that
affected the European Union, which proves that spending cuts, without tax
increases, can reduce budget deficits, without unnecessarily harming the
economy. Spain
is recovering from a deep recession with nearly 3% gross domestic product growth, but faces the
challenge of ongoing efforts by the wealthy region of Catalonia to secede, in addition to another
difficult budget. The new Spanish Government will have to compromise with not only its coalition partners, but with opposition parties.
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