Spanish MPs cite 1981 coup and P¨¦tain at charged investiture session

This, he said, is because he feels that the Socialist Party (PSOE) is no longer qualified to play that role after pledging to ¡°deliver¡± the government to Rajoy¡¯s Popular Party (PP) through an abstention at Saturday¡¯s second round of voting.

¡°Democracy is not about a symbolic sharing out of positions by two parties that are really one and the same,¡± said Iglesias, who aimed most of his address at Rajoy. ¡°We are not the same, and we hope to be the government of this country, and we hope you will accept that.¡±

What planet are you living on? There are 14 parties here. This is a democracy

Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera

Iglesias repeatedly warned Rajoy to be careful.

¡°You have more Spaniards against you than in favor. Even though you are going to be prime minister thanks to Mr Rivera [of Ciudadanos] and the PSOE, Spain wants a government without corruption and a better government. We love our country, where there are many good things despite you. You represent the past and others represent the future. So I would ask you for prudence, Mr Rajoy.¡±

A coup?

Podemos spokespeople have been repeatedly talking about ¡°a coup,¡± in reference to the Socialists¡¯ recent decision to abstain in round two of the investiture vote, thereby allowing Rajoy to form a minority government and take Spain out of a 10-month stalemate.

In one of the most dramatic moments of the session, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera pointed at the ceiling of the chamber, to a spot where it is still possible to see bullet holes left there by civil guards who attempted a coup d¡¯¨¦tat in Spain¡¯s fledgling democracy on February 23, 1981.

¡°There are still bullet holes up there,¡± said Rivera to Iglesias. ¡°There were people voting at the time. Some insurgents stormed the chamber. That was a coup. This government is not a Ciudadanos government, but it is legitimate, and it belongs to all citizens. You talk about a single party, about a coup. What planet are you living on? There are 14 parties here. This is a democracy. We ask you to join the reforms, but also to respect the rules of the game.¡±

But Rivera, whose 32 deputies will vote for Rajoy after reaching a 150-point deal with the PP to enact reforms, also warned the acting PM that he will be ¡°closely watched.¡±

¡°Mr Rajoy, if you don¡¯t deliver [on the reforms], this is not going to last long at all,¡± he said.

Triple Alliance

Meanwhile, regional parties with separatist sympathies are already referring to the PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos contemptuously as ¡°the Triple Alliance.¡±

Aitor Esteban, spokesman for the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), told Rajoy that ¡°you have shown that you have no project for either Catalonia or Euskadi [the Basque Country].¡±

Joan Tard¨¤, of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), went further when he addressed the Socialists: ¡°I cannot but tell you that this theory of the lesser evil is so, so, so very dangerous that it can lead you to a tremendous failure.¡±

¡°Let me remind you that there are Socialists with dignity: 60 Socialists, just 60, but 60 nevertheless, did not lend their support to Mar¨¦chal P¨¦tain. So we applaud the deputies who will vote no to Mariano Rajoy this Saturday,¡± he said, alluding to Spanish Socialists who will presumably cast a conscience vote against party discipline.

Earlier in the day, PSOE spokesman Antonio Hernando defended his party¡¯s decision to let Rajoy form a government for the good of the country.