Spain's Parliament Debating No-Confidence Vote To Oust Sanchez's Government

The Spanish parliament has started to debate a no-confidence vote in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the initiative of far-right Vox party

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) The Spanish parliament has started to debate a no-confidence vote in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the initiative of far-right Vox party.

The vote will take place on Thursday, however it is already clear that only Vox representatives with just 52 mandates in the parliament will support it. The support of at least 176 members of the Spanish lower house is required to pass the vote of no-confidence. The leading opposition party, the conservative Popular Party, which has 88 mandates has already said it won't back Vox. Right-wing Citizens party with 10 mandates has also refused to support the motion.

The formal reason for this Vox's initiative is the inability of the left-wing coalition government, which includes the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Unidas Podemos, to cope with the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This vote of no-confidence is the national debt that we have taken upon ourselves when other political parties have been inactive," lawmaker Ignacio Garriga from Vox said describing Sanchez's government as "the worst in Spain's history."

If the no-confidence vote were to succeed, the current left-wing coalition government would be replaced with one led by Vox leader Santiago Abascal.

Spain is expected to become the first country in Europe to reach 1 million reported cases of COVID-19 infections. Over 34,000 patients have died of the disease since the start of the outbreak.