Spain’s Socialists Reject Rajoy’s Attempt at Grand Coalition

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, center, celebrates with party members the results of their party, during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, as another inconclusive ballot compelled political leaders to resume six months of negotiations on who should form a government. AP Photo/Paul White

 

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s center-left Socialist party on Monday rejected acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s proposal to form a “grand coalition” with his conservative Popular Party a day after it won the country’s unprecedented repeat election.

The Popular Party won 137 seats in Sunday’s vote, which was still short of the majority in the 350-seat Parliament that it enjoyed after the 2011 election.

Rajoy’s party also won the December election but no other major party was willing to help him form a government — a scenario that could happen again.

The party’s leadership was meeting Monday to review its options. Prior to that, Rajoy, 61, told Cope radio he would again push for a “grand coalition” with the Socialists, who placed second on Sunday, winning 85 seats in their worst-ever result. He said he was not ruling out other possibilities.

“We won the election. We demand the right to govern,” Rajoy said after the victory.

A follower of Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, celebrates the results of the party at the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. AP Photo/Paul White