MADRID: Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez was sworn in as prime minister on Saturday, a day after ousting Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote in parliament sparked by fury over his party’s corruption woes. After leading the Socialists to two crushing general election defeats in 2015 and 2016, Sanchez was forced to resign by the party apparatus. Sanchez filed a no-confidence motion against Rajoy on May 25, a day after a court found former officials of his conservative Popular Party (PP) guilty of running a slush fund. All of his allies in the no-confidence motion stressed their vote against Rajoy was not a blank cheque for Sanchez. The parties that supported Sanchez will make demands he will not meet, predicted Pedro Fernandez, a 68-year-old pensioner, outside of parliament.

Source: Manila Times June 02, 2018 17:01 UTC