Catalunya Left Republicans back Sánchez's presidential bid

The socialist (PSOE) leader already has the backing of left-wing Podemos, whose leader Pablo Iglesias urged him on the night of the election results to negotiate with him seriously in order to halt the rise of the far right, after nearly four million Spaniards voted for extremists Vox.

Caretaking public works minister José Luis Ábalos announced this morning that the PSOE had 'armed a government capable of making up for lost time' after the elections Sánchez was forced to call in April produced an inconclusive result.

The agreement between the PSOE, Podemos and ERC is based upon 'making a fresh start' with 'dialogue and hope', since this is 'more productive than sabotage and paralysis' that 'other political groups with more representation are focusing on'.

Ábalos believes the right-wing PP, the centre-right Ciudadanos and far-right Vox – who were prepared to form a coalition government if the numbers added up – have an 'obstructive agenda'.

He stressed that the deal with ERC is 'consistent with Constitutional and democratic legality', and that the PSOE and its allies are 'a government which attends to the country's priorities'.

A public opinion poll – which is non-binding – will be held on the 'deals reached by the round table' formed from Catalunya's pro-independence and other party leaders in Catalunya and national government, where the issues behind the region's drive for independence from Spain will be discussed frankly.

But an opinion poll 'is not a referendum on independence', Ábalos insists, and says the PSOE's position on the matter is 'already very well-known'.

“We're willing to discuss anything, but that doesn't mean we're going to agree to it,” he cautions.

Asked why no reference in the written agreement is made to the Spanish Constitution, Ábalos says using the words 'democratic legal order' is a 'more inclusive expression'.

Spain's Magna Carta bans any action which 'may lead to the break-up' of the country, meaning a referendum on self-determination is not allowed – but Catalunya's leaders went ahead with it anyway on October 1, 2017.

As this was considered to be a violation of the Constitution, the politicians who organised it were immediately imprisoned – or fled abroad – and have been sentenced to between nine and 13 years.

The PSOE does not agree with Catalunya's becoming a second country and has always been against a legally-binding referendum, although Podemos has long been in favour of a referendum to 'sound out' public opinion and working on the region's reasons for wanting to leave in order to try to resolve them.

Whilst the previous right-wing PP-led government – in power from November 2011 until the PSOE's no-confidence vote against them in June 2018 put Sánchez in the hotseat – refused to discuss anything connected with Catalunya's desire for independence on the grounds of its being 'illegal' and 'unconstitutional', and threatened those who forged ahead with it with prison, the left-wing parties consider this too authoritarian and more likely to actually attract support for secession.

Having struck a deal in which ERC has agreed to vote in favour of Sánchez in the investiture ceremony, the right-wing parties – whose electoral manifestos were largely built around claiming a vote for the left would be a vote for the break-up of Spain – are now hitting out at the deal struck, insisting that it is 'unconstitutional'.