MADRID, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Spanish King Felipe VI on Tuesday picked Peoples' Party (PP) leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, as the candidate to try and form a government after consultation with main party leaders.
The King made his decision after meeting with both Feijoo and acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is also the Socialist Party (PSOE) leader, earlier in the day. Both leaders said they were ready to try and form a government.
The PP won 137 seats in the general election on July 23, more than 121 seats of the Socialist Party. But even though Santiago Abascal said his extreme right-wing Vox party would support Feijoo, along with the regional parties UPN and Coalicion Canaria, the PP can gather only 172 votes in the 350 seat Congress, still four short of the 176 seats needed for a majority.
The Spanish Constitution says the Monarch has the right to nominate a candidate to become prime minister, but it does not specify whether the candidate should be the leader of the party that has won the most votes, or the party leader who can gather the most parliamentary support. ■