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Saturday 23 of November 2024

Spanish Socialists woo far-left party, offer no Cabinet jobs


AP Photo,Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for the Mediterranean Summit of Southern EU countries in Valetta, Malta, Friday, June 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Jonathan Borg)
AP Photo,Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for the Mediterranean Summit of Southern EU countries in Valetta, Malta, Friday, June 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Jonathan Borg)

MADRID (AP) — A senior official in Spain’s center-left Socialist party says her party has offered “important administrative posts” to the far-left We Can party to secure its parliamentary support for a new government.

Carmen Calvo, deputy prime minister in the current caretaker Socialist administration, said Wednesday the positions offered don’t include Cabinet seats. She declined to elaborate.

Incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won the most votes in April’s general election but is shy of a parliamentary majority and needs to find extra votes to remain in office.

Calvo says the We Can party could be the Socialists’ “preferred partner” in enacting “progressive social policies.”

The We Can party has previously said it prefers to be in a coalition government.

Sanchez will still require more parliamentary votes beyond We Can’s support.