Spain’s parliament re-elected Pedro Sanchez as prime minister for a second term on Thursday, with 179 voices in his favor and 171 against, breaking a lengthy impasse following an inconclusive general election in July.
His Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) negotiated separate deals with a number of regional parties in order to get their support, including a disputed law on amnesty for Catalan separatists that has provoked nationwide protests.
Sanchez’s reappointment as Prime Minister brings an end to months of political uncertainty. Alberto Nunez Feijoo, a conservative People’s Party (PP) candidate, received the most seats but did not receive enough support from other parties in his effort to govern the country.
Many Spaniards were outraged by the amnesty measure, which was introduced in parliament on Monday. If passed, it would absolve politicians and activists who took part in the failed effort to split Catalonia from Spain in 2017.
As voting concluded, some of the 400 protesters outside parliament rattled police barricades and shouted their opposition.
The group Civil Action sent a letter to the Spanish Army entitled “Letter from the people to the armed forces and security forces and bodies,” calling on behalf of Spanish society for “a response from the Spanish Army, the Civil Guard and the National Police to Sanchez negtiations and deals struck with Catalunya’s separatists.