Spain will hold legislative elections on April 28

USPA NEWS - The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, announced on Friday the convocation of early legislative elections for April 28. In a public appearance, Sanchez claimed his legitimacy as president, defended the work of his Government and blamed the opposition for not having supported his social policies. The rejection of Parliament to its budgets for 2019 have led him to call early elections: Between continuing to govern with a budget of the Conservatives and give the word to the Spanish, I choose the second option, he said.

Pedro Sanchez made the announcement in an official statement to the media that, following a deliberation by the Council of Ministers, that he has proposed to dissolve the two Houses of Parliament and call legislative elections to be held on Sunday, April 28. Pedro Sanchez notified H.M. the King of this decision earlier on Friday.

During his appearance, he vindicated the legitimacy of his government and justified the motion of censure that led him to power beacuse the previous government, harassed by the corruption of a large number of its leaders and with important judicial problems, did not attend to its executive obligations. "Almost nine months ago, Spain suffered a Government that was more pending to defend itself before the courts than to defend the general interest of the Spaniards. A Government harassed by corruption and plunged into a legislative paralysis. A Government that did not attend to the social emergencies that suffered and suffers much of the citizenship of our country," he said.

"The non-assumption of political responsibilities by the party then in the Government and, also, its main parliamentary support led to the majority of the Congress of Deputies supporting the change of Government with a motion of censure. And he did it legitimately. He did so under Article 113 of the Spanish Constitution. Article that endows - and I also want to underline again - democratic and constitutional legitimacy the formation of a Government out of the motion of censure," he added.

He also claimed the work of his Cabinet. "Fruit of that intense work, in little more than eight months of government and after years of paralysis, 13 laws have been approved in the Parliament and more than 25 royal decrees-law have been approved. They have transposed directives that slept the dream of the just and whose breach in the transposition threatened the public treasury. And it has recovered the European and international presence of Spain, which was needed," said the Spanish Prime Minister.

With respect to the parliamentary rejection of the budgets for 2019, Pedro Sanchez affirmed that "there are parliamentary defeats that are social victories. The citizens have seen what is the road map of this Government, what is it that we want for this country; and for this country what we want is social justice. It is equality, it is freedom, it is progress, it is labor dignity, it is growth, it is modernization of our growth structures. It is to tackle the great transformations that our country demands and needs. And Spain does not deserve to be stranded by the particular interests and supporters of some and others, who only find in the disqualification and in the tension their way of making opposition."

After the announcement of the Prime Minister, the Spanish Parliament will be dissolved on March 5. The electoral campaign will coincide with the celebration in Spain of Holy Week, a religious festival deeply rooted in Catholicism. The legislative elections will be held on Sunday, April 28, on the eve of the May Day holiday. The election of the date was criticized by the opposition parties, which reproach the Government for the extra expense that will mean less than a month of the celebration of a triple electoral day of the European, regional and local elections for May 26.