Spanish government falls, Socialists take power again after six years

MADRID, (Patria) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was removed from office today after a no-confidence vote in the Spanish parliament.

Rajoy became the first Spanish prime minister removed by parliament since the establishment of democracy in the country.

Spanish conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who had governed the country for the past seven years, bid farewell to the prime minister's post half an hour before the start of the confidence vote on his minority government, Hina reports.

- I will be the first to congratulate the new prime minister because I am a democrat and respect the outcome of the vote, although I disagree with what has happened - said the 63-year-old leader of the People's Party, according to world media.

The largest opposition party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), initiated the confidence vote after the People's Party was convicted of corruption last week. It managed to secure support from other opposition parties, including Catalan and Basque independence supporters.

PSOE leader, 43-year-old Pedro Sánchez, was automatically elected as the new prime minister.

The People's Party ousted the centre-left from power in 2011 at the height of the economic crisis, and the economy now grows at an annual rate of three percent, but with an unemployment rate of 16 percent.

- It was an honour to be prime minister of a better Spain than the one I inherited. For the sake of Spain's well-being, I hope my successor will be such - said Rajoy, who leaves office two years before the end of his term.

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is the new prime minister of Spain

The next elections are scheduled for 2020, but it is now expected whether Sánchez will call early elections. His party has only 84 out of 350 seats, and the survival of the interim government will depend on an agreement with the left-wing Podemos and advocates of independence for the provinces of Basque Country and Catalonia.

Nine different parties decided to vote no confidence in Rajoy. His People's Party won the 2016 elections, but remained in power as a minority government with 134 out of 350 seats. No party then obtained an absolute majority of 176 seats.

Rajoy stayed in power thanks to the support of the centrist Citizens party, which has 32 seats. That party, now the most popular in the country according to polls, insists on immediately calling early elections, calling the future Sánchez government "Frankensteinian".

The PSOE achieved its worst election result since 1977 in 2016.

The People's Party and the PSOE have alternated in power for the past 40 years. Corruption scandals in these parties and a high unemployment rate led to the emergence of new parties, Citizens and Podemos, which disrupted the traditional two-party system.