Spanish Parliament Re-elects Sánchez as Prime Minister After Controversial Amnesty for Catalan Separatists

After weeks of political bargaining, the leader of the Socialist Party, Pedro Sánchez, secured a majority vote in parliament and will now lead Spain's government for a third term as prime minister over a new four-year tenure. This was announced by the President of the House of Deputies, as reported by El Pais.

Having been in power since 2018, Sánchez is now tasked with forming a new government with his allies in the far-left coalition of Unidas Podemos, putting an end to nearly four months of governmental deadlock following the parliamentary elections on July 23.

Sánchez garnered the trust of an absolute majority of 179 deputies, notably with decisive support from seven votes of the Catalan separatist party led by Carles Puigdemont, which determined whether Sánchez would regain the prime minister position or Spain would face new elections. These votes were obtained by Sánchez in exchange for an amnesty that deeply divides the country.

Realizing the necessity of securing support from separatist parties for a new term, Sánchez initiated negotiations for agreements with each of them.

The most challenging agreement was with the Junts party, controlled by former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. The separatist leader demanded amnesty for individuals held accountable for actions related to the attempted declaration of Catalonia's independence in 2017. Overall, over 300 Catalan separatists could fall under the amnesty law.

Ahead of the elections on Monday, Sánchez's party introduced a bill proposing amnesty for these individuals.

According to several polls, this amnesty for Catalan separatists, rejected by the majority of Spaniards, led hundreds of thousands of people to protest on the streets on Sunday. A new demonstration is scheduled in Madrid on Saturday.

The far-right party Vox filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against Sánchez for plans to pass the amnesty law.

In a statement on his X account, the new Prime Minister wrote: 'I want to address all the groups that supported me today to resume the position of prime minister and form a new coalition government. To the 179 deputies who cast their votes and represent over 12.6 million citizens, who on July 23 decided to move forward, not backward. Thank you very much. Very grateful.