Social Democratic Speaker of Spain’s Congress

Social Democrat Francina Armengol becomes speaker of Spain’s Congress.

It is seen as a great victory for PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez – but whether he will succeed in forming a government is still extremely uncertain.

On Thursday, members of the Spanish Congress gathered for the first time since the parliamentary elections in July to elect the president and vice presidents.

Social democratic PSOE’s speaker candidate Francina Armengol received 178 out of 350 votes.

Among those who voted in favor are the Catalan independence parties ERC and Junts per Catalunya.

Negotiations during the morning

Until the last moment, it was uncertain whether the Catalan kingmaker party Junts would vote for PSOE’s candidate as speaker.

But on Thursday morning, after hours of negotiations, the party’s general secretary Jordi Turull announced that an agreement had been reached on three out of four points.

The points concern the use of the Catalan language in parliament, an investigation into espionage against Catalan leaders and an “end to the repression” following Catalonia’s illegal independence referendum in 2017 – alluding to the amnesty demanded by Junts for Catalan leaders convicted of sedition, reports El Country.

The ERC, the left-wing independence party in Catalonia, also announced on Thursday morning that an agreement had been reached with the PSOE.

That PSOE’s candidate would be Francina Armengol, former regional president of the Balearic Islands, became clear on Monday.

In the Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca and Menorca, she has governed together with pro-Catalan regional parties, which should have been seen as positive by both Junts and the ERC.

The left-wing alliance Sumar, which will form part of a possible PSOE government, the Basque nationalist parties EH Bildu and PNV and the Galician nationalist party BNG also voted in favor of Armengol as speaker.

Who will be prime minister?

The prime ministerial vote will take place later in August or in early September, AFP reports.

However, the Catalan parties have been clear that they will not necessarily vote for PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez as prime minister.

Junts still has several demands, including a legal referendum on Catalan independence, and negotiations are expected to be difficult. This means that a new election is still very possible.

FACTS The result of the election on 23 July

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