The second vice president of the Spanish Government resigns

USPA NEWS - Crisis in the Spanish Government. The second vice president and leader of the far-left coalition Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, resigned this Monday to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Madrid regional government in the elections on May 4. After, on Sunday, Justice endorsed the electoral call, Iglesias explained that he wants to contribute to a victory for the left against the conservative candidate and current acting president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

"Madrid needs a government of the left and I think I can be useful trying to win the elections," explained this Monday the second vice president of the Spanish Government, Pablo Iglesias. His party - the far-left coalition Podemos -, which shares the Cabinet with the Socialist Party in Spain, is in danger of disappearing from the Madrid regional Parliament after the elections on May 4, according to the polls, and Podemos decided this Monday to play all their assets by presenting their leader as a candidate for the Madrid regional government. To do this, Iglesias had to resign from his position as second vice president of the Spanish Government and he communicated this Monday morning, Spanish time, to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Iglesias' decision took President Sánchez by surprise, who is now forced to reshape his government. The resigned leader of Podemos demanded that the Minister of Labor be appointed vice president and Minister, the Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda of the Spanish Government, Ione Belarra. But Sánchez announced that it will take a few days to decide if he introduces changes in his Cabinet. After the initial surprise, Pedro Sánchez feels like the winner, having got rid of the most combative and problematic member of his government.

All these changes are a consequence of the decision of the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Ayuso, to call early elections for May 4. After the Socialist Party and the centrist Citizens filed a motion of censure against the conservative regional government of Murcia, in Southeastern Spain, Ayuso decided to call elections and thus abort any possibility of a motion of censure against her. The opposition appealed to the Court and on Sunday, the Madrid Provincial Court ruled that the electoral call is valid.

The motion of censure in Murcia will fail, predictably. Three deputies from the centrist Citizens, until then in the regional government, backed down and announced that they will vote against the motion. The question is what the deputies of the far-right party Vox will do, who can tip the balance to one side or the other. But, in principle, the motion in Murcia, which was the first act of a more ambitious project that sought to remove power from the conservatives in Murcia, Madrid, Castilla y León, and Andalusia, will not succeed.

The call in Madrid surprised everyone. The Socialist Party rushed to name a candidate and the rest of the parties dedicated this Monday to preparing the electoral appointment. The first polls predict a comfortable victory for the conservatives and give Podemos and the centrist Citizens losers. That announcement was what motivated the departure of the Government of vice president Pablo Iglesias and his announcement that he will be a candidate in the regional elections in Madrid.