Socialist party members in Spain back Catalan amnesty to secure PM new term
Members of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) have backed plans to secure another term as prime minister for the party’s leader, Pedro Sánchez, in return for granting a hugely controversial amnesty to people involved in the illegal and unilateral bid for Catalan independence six years ago.
Spain has been in the hands of Sánchez’s caretaker government since July’s inconclusive snap general election, in which the PSOE was narrowly beaten by the conservative People’s party (PP). Although the PP won the most seats, it fell short of a parliamentary majority and has proved unable to form a government, even with the support of the far-right Vox party and other, smaller political groupings.
Sánchez and his allies in the leftwing Sumar alliance have the best chance of forming a government but can do so only with the support of the two main Catalan pro-independence parties, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Junts (Together). Both Catalan parties have said their support for getting the PSOE back into office will be contingent on an amnesty for the hundreds of people who participated in the failed push to secede from Spain in October 2017.
While the ERC has signed off its deal with the PSOE, Junts, which is led by the former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont – who is still wanted by Spanish courts for his role in the doomed lunge for Catalan independence – is still negotiating its support.
After a ballot this week – in which the word amnesty was not explicitly used – 87% of PSOE members said they were in favour of “an agreement to form a government with Sumar and to attract the support of other political formations to achieve the necessary majority”. The party said 11.9% of its members voted against such an agreement, and 63.4% of its membership had voted.
The PSOE’s organisational secretary, Santos Cerdán León, said the result was proof of the desire of party members to avoid handing more power to the PP and Vox, who have struck governing coalitions in many Spanish towns and regions.
“The voice of the membership rings out loud and clear when the PSOE has a decision to make,” he said on Sunday. “Our sole motivation is to keep strengthening the welfare state in the face of the backwards steps that have been taken in the towns and regions governed by the PP and the nostalgic far right.”
The PP has attacked Sánchez for caving in on the amnesty, describing the move as a cynical attempt to hang on to power.
After weeks of hints and speculation, the acting prime minister finally confirmed the planned measure last weekend. “In the interest of Spain, in defence of coexistence among Spaniards, I defend today the amnesty in Catalonia for the events of the past decade,” Sánchez told a meeting of his party’s federal committee in Madrid last Saturday.
The PSOE leader, who once promised to bring Puigdemont back to Spain to face justice, risked considerable political capital two years ago by pardoning nine of the Catalan leaders behind the drive for secession.
A poll in mid-September showed 70% of Spaniards opposed the amnesty, and about 200,000 people have taken part in recent rallies against the measure organised by the PP and Vox.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the PP, has accused Sánchez repeatedly of selling out to Catalan and Basque