Following the continuation of the Congress debate which started yesterday, the general secretary of the PSOE, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will be confirmed as the fifth democratic president of Spain later today with the support of other left wing parties. The new president´s nomination will be supported by 164 PSOE, 8 ERC, 5 IU-ICV and the only CHA deputy, giving him the 176 votes he needs for an absolute majority in the lower chamber. The investiture will be ratified this afternoon by the signing of a royal decree by King Juan Carlos. Zapatero will be officially sworn in tomorrow by the king after the publication of an official State Bulletin (BOE). Zapatero will almost certainly also receive the support of the CC, BNG, CiU, EA, and the NB leaving Mariano Rajoy´s Partido Popular (PP) as the only opposition party. Zapatero will become the second socialist president after Felipe González. The other three presidents were; Adolfo Suárez, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, and José María Aznar, whose eight year tenure in the Moncloa Palace comes to an end today.

The Congressional ebate will continue this morning with speeches from the Canary Islands Coalition (CC) spokesperson, Paulino Rivero, the Mixed Group (BNG, CHA, EA and Nafarroa-Bai), and the socialist Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. During yesterday´s session, the PSOE leader started his speech with a remark directed at Mariano Rajoy, "Welcome to the world of public debate, perhaps a bit late," to which Rajoy responded, "I wanted a debate with you and your partners during the election campaign, but was told that this would be impossible." Rajoy also criticised the new government presidential candidate for what has not been said about agreements reached with their political allies, which augurs an "unstable and weak" administration. Zapatero replied by saying that; "This government will be stable and open to dialogue, it will not be authoritarian or arrogant." Rajoy asked for a clear statement on the future of Spanish troops in Iraq, to which Zapatero replied, "We are going to take Spain out of the Azores photograph." With respect to the National Hydrological Plan (PHN), Zapatero vowed to paralyse the scheme and overturn legislation passed by the previous government. Rajoy accused him of "delaying the solution of the most serious problem facing the Mediterranean Basin." Zapatero also explained that the government would be open to proposals to reform the Spanish Constitution. Rajoy warned him "before opening up a debate about Constitutional Reform, think carefully  about whether you would be able to win it, if not, I advise you not to even try." The PP leader did promise to support the new government in the fight against terrorism, and even wished him luck, but warned that "talent and dialogue may not be enough, because, at the end, we shall always be here."