PSOE Continues to Reject Rajoy's Reelection

Madrid, Aug 29 (Prensa Latina) The Spanish Socialist Workers'' Party (PSOE) on Monday refused to support the reelection of the acting president of the Government and the leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, who might be invested on Tuesday.

It would be irresponsible that the socialists support the continuity of Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace (the venue of the central power), said the PSOE secretary of Political Relations, Patxi Lopez, in statements to Cadena Ser on Monday.

Although Spain needs it, any government that will make anything will not work, underlined Lopez, a few hours before the Congress of Deputies decided on a vote of confidence on Rajoy.

The PSOE leader pointed out that the voters from the second major political force in Parliament in Spain did not vote to perpetuate the model of social inequality and corruption established by the PP, shaken by several financial irregularities.

Lopez criticized the agreement signed on Sunday between the PP and the central-rightwing party Ciudadanos (C's), which was demanded by the second largest party to facilitate, with its 32 seats in the lower House, that the outgoing president could stay for four more years in the Moncloa Palace.

Although he admitted that the measures agreed upon by the PP and C's were included in the pact penned in February between the PSOE and C's, Lopez explained that the problem lies 'in what is not included' in the document agreed upon by Spain's major rightwing parties.

In that regard, he regretted that the initiative does not establish the derogation of the labor reform promoted by Rajoy's government, as well as the absence of measures to fight inequality, poverty and labor precariousness.

Turning a blind eye on corruption (within the PP) makes the PSOE refuse that agreement, according to Lopez.

'Nothing can make us change our stance,' noted Lopez, in allusion to the position of the centennial party, whose 85 seats are crucial to guarantee Rajoy's permanence in office.