Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has admitted defeat ahead of a vote of no-confidence on Friday, paving the way for his arch-rival Pedro Sanchez to take power.
Mr Rajoy said it had been ‘an honour’ to serve the country and admitted that ‘the no-confidence motion is likely to go through’ in a speech to Parliament on Friday morning.
He told MPs on Friday: ‘It has been a honor to leave Spain better than I found it. Thank you to all Spaniards and good luck.’
The decision will make Rajoy the first Spanish premier to lose a no-confidence vote since the country transitioned to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrives for a debate on a no-confidence motion at the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament on Friday
Spanish Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez called the vote amid a corruption scandal engulfing Rajoy’s party, and reportedly secured enough votes to win on Thursday
Mr Sanchez, leader of the Socialist opposition, called the vote after Rajoy’s conservative party was caught taking kickbacks in return for awarding public contracts.
‘Your isolation, Mr. Rajoy, is the epitaph of a political period, yours, which is over,’ Sanchez, a 46-year-old former economics professor, told parliament on Thursday.
Sanchez will now immediately become Prime Minister in his place under a Spanish law that prevents a power vacuum.
He has pledged to call fresh elections within months.
With news of the vote, Spain looks set to become the second southern European nation to fall victim to a political crisis amid Italy’s repeated failures to form a government.
Sanchez demanded Rajoy step down last week, arguing he had lost credibility after one of PP’s former treasurers was jailed for 33 years for fraud and money laundering.
The court case exposed of a vast system of bribes given to former PP officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts.
‘Resign, Mr Rajoy, your time is up,’ Sanchez said during the debate in parliament.
‘Staying on as prime minister is harmful and is a burden not only for Spain but also for your party.’
The Socialists hold 84 out of 350 seats in parliament and quickly secured the backing of anti-establishment party Podemos, which had 67 seats.
Pedro Sanchez, addresses Members of Parliament on the second day of the no-confidence motion debate on Friday
Mr Sanchez arriving at Spanish parliament ahead of the debates surrounding the controversial vote on Friday
With the support of several small regional parties, including Catalonia’s separatists, the Socialists had managed to secure a total of 175 votes – just one short of the strict 176 majority needed to topple Rajoy.
With the Basques on their side, the Socialists now appear to have 180 votes.
Rajoy had tried to head off the rebellion, admitting that there had been corrupt people in his party but arguing that the party itself is not corrupt.
He also painted Sanchez as an opportunist trying to game his way into power.
‘Everybody knows that Pedro Sanchez is never going to win the elections and this is the reason for his motion, his urgency,’ Rajoy said, reminding lawmakers that the Socialists have lost two elections under Sanchez.
He also played on fears that a Socialist government would bad for the economy, telling Sanchez: ‘Every time you open your mouth, the risk premium goes up.’
Rajoy has been in power since December 2011 and has steered Spain out of its worst economic crisis in decades.
But his opponents complain that the recovery has come at the expense of austerity measures, high unemployment and rising inequality.
Mariano Rajoy shakes hands with a police officer outside Spanish Parliament on Friday morning