Spain’s conservative government yesterday appeared doomed to lose a no-confidence vote in parliament, with the center-left Socialist party poised to take power.
A Basque nationalist party’s decisive announcement that it would vote in favor of the motion spelled the almost certain end of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s mandate and foretold the stunning collapse of his minority government in a parliamentary vote today, when it will be short of support to survive.
The impending downfall of Rajoy’s government after ruling for nearly eight years came just days after his Popular Party’s reputation was badly damaged by a court verdict that identified it as a beneficiary of a large kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.
The unexpected development injected a new element of tension into European Union politics and global financial markets, already unsettled by Italy’s struggles to install a government since a March 4 election.
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