Spain’s Rajoy Ousted by Lawmakers

Prime minister, who enacted painful economic reforms, is country’s first leader to be unseated in a vote of confidence

MADRID—Spanish lawmakers voted to oust Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday, ushering in a center-left government whose new leader pledged to enact a moderate, pro-European agenda unlikely to knock Spain’s robust economic recovery off course.

Spain’s parliament voted 180 to 169, with one abstention, to remove Mr. Rajoy, cutting short the second term of one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders currently in power. The center-left Socialist Party had called the no-confidence vote last week and proposed its leader to replace Mr. Rajoy.

Socialist Party leader Pedro Sánchez, who becomes prime minister immediately, told lawmakers that his policy goals include bolstering social policies to address problems such as unemployment and poverty levels, both of which remain high despite Spain’s strong growth.

However, the new premier will lead a minority government that is likely to struggle to pass legislation and has already promised to call parliamentary elections ahead of the current 2020 deadline.

Events in Spain come just as a new government comes to power in Italy, now home to Western Europe’s largest anti-establishment movement, after a three-month power vacuum.

The two high-profile political crises this week in southern Europe underscore the social and economic scars still borne by the region years after the eurozone’s 2011-12 crisis, damage that is feeding political discontent and stirring hunger for change.

Mr. Rajoy had seen his support steadily erode since he became prime minister in 2011 and began to enact a series of painful economic reforms to help Spain recover from its deepest crisis in decades. He has shouldered much of the political blame for a recovery that has left millions of Spaniards behind. He is the first Spanish prime minister to be unseated in a vote of confidence.

“It has been an honor to leave Spain better than I found it,” Mr. Rajoy told lawmakers before the vote. “Hopefully, my replacement will be able to say the same.”

Mr. Sánchez seized on a corruption ruling last week that found Mr. Rajoy’s center-right Popular Party financially benefited from a graft scheme. The corruption scandal was the final blow for a premier who managed to win re-election in 2016 but emerged from the vote with a weak minority government.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-oust-spanish-leader-who-enacted-painful-economic-reforms-1527845793

Paywalled (maybe) but looks like the proverbial straw here was the public corruption.