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{"source_url": "http://www.thinkspain.com", "url": "http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/31983/catalunya-left-republicans-back-sanchezs-presidential-bid", "title": "Catalunya Left Republicans back S\u00e1nchez's presidential bid", "top_image": "https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/news/images/400/foto31983_foto1_v1.jpg", "meta_img": "https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/news/images/400/foto31983_foto1_v1.jpg", "images": ["https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/news/images/400/foto31983_foto1_v1.jpg", "http://bat.bing.com/action/0?ti=6001040&Ver=2", "https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/assets/thinkspain.com/v-7ff4cca0/images/loading.gif", "https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/assets/thinkspain.com/v-7ff4cca0/images/logo-blue.png", "https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=337234010100411&ev=PageView&noscript=1"], "movies": [], "text": "SPAIN is a step closer to getting a fixed \u2013 and elected \u2013 government now that Pedro S\u00e1nchez has reached a deal with the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC).\n\nThe socialist (PSOE) leader already has the backing of left-wing Podemos, whose leader Pablo Iglesias urged him on the night of the election results to negotiate with him seriously in order to halt the rise of the far right, after nearly four million Spaniards voted for extremists Vox.\n\nCaretaking public works minister Jos\u00e9 Luis \u00c1balos announced this morning that the PSOE had 'armed a government capable of making up for lost time' after the elections S\u00e1nchez was forced to call in April produced an inconclusive result.\n\nThe agreement between the PSOE, Podemos and ERC is based upon 'making a fresh start' with 'dialogue and hope', since this is 'more productive than sabotage and paralysis' that 'other political groups with more representation are focusing on'.\n\n\u00c1balos believes the right-wing PP, the centre-right Ciudadanos and far-right Vox \u2013 who were prepared to form a coalition government if the numbers added up \u2013 have an 'obstructive agenda'.\n\nHe stressed that the deal with ERC is 'consistent with Constitutional and democratic legality', and that the PSOE and its allies are 'a government which attends to the country's priorities'.\n\nA public opinion poll \u2013 which is non-binding \u2013 will be held on the 'deals reached by the round table' formed from Catalunya's pro-independence and other party leaders in Catalunya and national government, where the issues behind the region's drive for independence from Spain will be discussed frankly.\n\nBut an opinion poll 'is not a referendum on independence', \u00c1balos insists, and says the PSOE's position on the matter is 'already very well-known'.\n\n\u201cWe're willing to discuss anything, but that doesn't mean we're going to agree to it,\u201d he cautions.\n\nAsked why no reference in the written agreement is made to the Spanish Constitution, \u00c1balos says using the words 'democratic legal order' is a 'more inclusive expression'.\n\nSpain's Magna Carta bans any action which 'may lead to the break-up' of the country, meaning a referendum on self-determination is not allowed \u2013 but Catalunya's leaders went ahead with it anyway on October 1, 2017.\n\nAs this was considered to be a violation of the Constitution, the politicians who organised it were immediately imprisoned \u2013 or fled abroad \u2013 and have been sentenced to between nine and 13 years.\n\nThe PSOE does not agree with Catalunya's becoming a second country and has always been against a legally-binding referendum, although Podemos has long been in favour of a referendum to 'sound out' public opinion and working on the region's reasons for wanting to leave in order to try to resolve them.\n\nWhilst the previous right-wing PP-led government \u2013 in power from November 2011 until the PSOE's no-confidence vote against them in June 2018 put S\u00e1nchez in the hotseat \u2013 refused to discuss anything connected with Catalunya's desire for independence on the grounds of its being 'illegal' and 'unconstitutional', and threatened those who forged ahead with it with prison, the left-wing parties consider this too authoritarian and more likely to actually attract support for secession.\n\nHaving struck a deal in which ERC has agreed to vote in favour of S\u00e1nchez in the investiture ceremony, the right-wing parties \u2013 whose electoral manifestos were largely built around claiming a vote for the left would be a vote for the break-up of Spain \u2013 are now hitting out at the deal struck, insisting that it is 'unconstitutional'.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": [], "publish_date": null, "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Catalunya Left Republicans back S\u00e1nchez's presidential bid. 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