MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2019) The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the left-wing Unidas Podemos (UP) coalition failed to reach the consensus, which could lead to early elections for the fourth time in four years if the sides do not return to the negotiating table before September 23.
"Today there was no way to reach an agreement," PSOE spokeswoman Adriana Lastra said Tuesday, urging Podemos to "think" to conclude an agreement.
"I ask them to think about whether they would allow us to form a progressive government or again hinder the new government from progress and doom us to new elections," Lastra told reporters in Madrid, adding that the socialists were ready to negotiate "as much as necessary."
Podemos, in turn, puts the blame on the lack of the results during the negotiations with the socialists.
"They said: if we do not accept their conditions, then there will be no new meetings with the negotiating teams. If we do not agree with the government, which would only include members of the PSOE, then they would not participate in the negotiations," UP representative Pablo Echenique Robba said.
He called the socialists' position "erroneous" and believes that they were determined to hold early elections.
"To us it is a mistake and irresponsibility to leave the negotiating table. This would doom the country to new elections. It makes us suspect that it was their intention from the very beginning," the politician said.
After Mariano Rajoy stepped down as prime minister as the result of a corruption scandal involving his Popular Party, Spaniards went to the polls on April 28 for the third time in four years. Despite becoming the undisputed winner, the PSOE failed to secure enough seats to form a government on its own. The three months of negotiations with Podemos failed to produce a stable coalition, mainly due to the unwillingness of both sides to search for a compromise when it came to ministerial appointments.
Early elections would be held on November 10 if the Spain's Congress of Deputies fails to approve the prime minister until September 23.
