Mariano Rajoy re-elected as Spain’s Prime Minister

Washington D.C. [United States], Oct. 30 : Acting Prime Minister of Spain and leader of its center-right Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy was on Saturday re-elected after winning a parliamentary vote.

Rajoy won the parliamentary vote by a margin of 170-111 with 68 abstentions, breaking the political deadlock and giving Spain its first fully functioning government since December.

The economy is once again a major challenge for Rajoy. Unemployment rate of Spain is 19.5%, which is second highest in the European Union after Greece. However, despite having a caretaker government, the economy has grown at a 3% rate, owing to the austerity measures taken by the acting Prime Minister.

Following the December election, Spain had tried to put together a coalition government but by the emergence of the left-wing Podemos and centrist Ciudadanos, as well as other regional parties, the process had become complicated.

General election were held once gain in June but neither the PP nor the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Spain's two major political forces, were able to gather enough support to form the government.

Rajoy was elected as the Prime Minister in 2011 by a landslide vote..

Source: ANI