MADRID, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Spain moved a step closer to having a government in the wake of the April 28 general election on Friday when the leader of the left wing Unidos Podemos party Pablo Iglesias said he would not ask to be part of any future cabinet.
The move should help to unblock the stalemate in talks between the Socialist Party (PSOE) of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Podemos, which was mainly caused by Iglesias' insistence on being given a cabinet post in any future coalition government.
Earlier in the day Sanchez had commented that he was willing for another member of Podemos to form part of his government, with Podemos spokesperson Irene Montero (who is Iglesias' partner) a possible candidate.
The Socialists are against Iglesias forming part of any future government due to his support for a referendum over the independence of the Catalan region in northeast Spain - something completely against PSOE policy on the issue.
The day's events happened after a vote among Podemos party members showed that 70 percent of them wanted to see their party form part of a coalition government with the PSOE, rather than merely supporting Sanchez's party in the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
PSOE spokesperson Adriana Lastra said on Spanish radio that Sanchez's proposal was a "once and only offer."
Montero initially rejected the idea saying a "veto on Pablo is a veto on Podemos," but she later softened her position, saying there were "no red lines" in the negotiations.
Now Iglesias' decision to step aside has effectively removed any 'red lines' there might have been, although time is running out for the two parties to cut a deal.
Monday sees the start of the inauguration debate in the Spanish Congress. A vote will be held on Tuesday and Sanchez needs to win an overall majority of 176 votes from the 350 deputies in Congress to be confirmed as Prime Minister.
If Sanchez fails to win an overall majority on Tuesday, a simple majority in a second vote held on Thursday would be enough to confirm his return to office, although for that to happen he would still need other Basque and Catalan nationalist parties to abstain rather than vote against him.
