Spain’s Parliament to vote on Prime Minister Sánchez’s reelection. Catalan amnesty deal causes furor

By CIARÁN GILES
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Parliament Speaker says the investiture debate and vote to reelect acting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will take place Wednesday and Thursday. Sánchez is expected to be voted in with no hitches given that the Socialist party has reached deals with a bunch of small parties to ensure he has the backing of 179 legislators, three more than the 176 majority required in Parliament. The Socialists last week clinched the crucial support of a fringe Catalan separatist party in exchange for a controversial amnesty for possibly thousands of people involved in the region’s failed secession bid in 2017. The proposal has triggered protests called by right-wing opposition parties, with some ending in clashes with the police.