Mariano Rajoy was ousted as Spain’s prime minister on Friday after a vote of no confidence in Parliament. The vote was led by the Socialists, the main opposition party, but ultimately the cause of his downfall was a long-running corruption scandal that had tainted his right-wing Popular Party. He is now the first prime minister in modern Spanish history to be unseated by a no-confidence motion. A political party under siegeSpain’s Popular Party held power from 1996 to 2004, and again from 2011 onward. But a complex corruption scandal has long plagued the public perception of the party.

Source: New York Times June 01, 2018 19:07 UTC