Pedro Sánchez has reached an agreement with nine parties to form a new government SERGIO PEREZ/REUTERSSpain faces a knife-edge vote today that could usher its first coalition government in modern times, which critics said would threaten the country’s unity and inadvertently fuel rightwing nationalism. Pedro Sánchez, the country’s caretaker Socialist prime minister, is expected to win a parliamentary vote by a wafer-thin margin, enabling him to form a new government with the far-left Podemos party. But his reliance on far-left and separatist parties has prompted rightwing parties to accuse him of endangering Spain’s unity at a time when Madrid is struggling to contain a powerful pro-independence movement in Catalonia. The vote, which follows an inconclusive general election in November, the fourth election in as many years, comes as Spain is beset by political fragmentation and polarisation. The eurozone’s fourth-largest economy,…

Source: The Times January 07, 2020 00:00 UTC