Spain’s far-left party Podemos would not provide any level of support for a coalition government between the Socialists (PSOE) and the centrist Ciudadanos if they tried to team up to end the political stalemate, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said Monday.
Iglesias said before a meeting of the parliamentary group of Podemos (We can), who came third in December’s election when no party won a majority, would not act “neither actively nor passively” to facilitate a hypothetical coalition between the second-placed PSOE and fourth-placed Ciudadanos (Citizens).
Incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party (PP) came first in the election, but has so far failed to convince Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE to form an unprecedented, German-style ‘grand coalition’ government.
At the same time, both the PSOE and Ciudadanos are reluctant to team up with Podemos, partly because the radical protest party supports a referendum on Catalan independence, which the other main parties oppose.
“We want to be in the government and I think our program is incompatible with that of Ciudadanos, who are trying to align with the PP and PSOE,” said Iglesias. “We are ready to dialogue with everyone.”
The Spanish head of state, King Felipe, is holding a second round of talks with party leaders this week to break the deadlock. He was due to meet Iglesias on Monday and was expected to propose a leftist coalition government headed by Sánchez, with the support of Podemos and the smaller far-left Izquierda Unida (United Left), which is led by Alberto Garzón.
The PSOE, Podemos and United Left together muster 161 members of the lower house. In the 350-seat Congress of Deputies that wouldn’t be enough to nominate Sánchez, who would also need the support — or passive support via abstention — of Basque and Catalan nationalist parties.