King Felipe to hold further talks with Spanish party leaders

The Spanish Royal Palace has confirmed King Felipe VI of Spain will hold a new round of talks between the leaders of Spain's political parties in an attempt to break the current stalemate and avoid a general election on June 26.

The announcement was made in the wake of the continued failure of Spain's party leaders to reach agreement over the formation of a coalition government, almost four months after the December 20 general election led to a hung parliament.

Last week saw a round of talks between the Socialist Party (PSOE), center-right group Citizens and the left-wing Podemos end in failure. The PSOE also rejected the offer of the right-wing People's Party to form a post-electoral pact with them.

Should there be no agreement over the formation of a new government by May 2, the Spanish Constitution dictates Congress be dissolved and new elections held 54 days later.

Felipe will meet the leaders of all of Spain's political parties on April 25 and 26, although Speaker Patxi Lopez highlighted on Tuesday that the king is "not obliged to propose a candidate if one doesn't exist."

February saw People's Party leader and Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reject the king's offer to propose him as a candidate, alleging he did not have enough support in Congress.

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez accepted the offer, but his attempt to form a government with the support of Citizens was a failure as he received just 130 and 131 votes in his two attempts to win the investiture vote.

After the next round of meetings with the king, any possible investiture debate would be held on April 30 with the candidate having a second and final chance on May 2, after which elections would be called should they fail.

Source: XINHUA