Spain: A Failed Budget Portends an Election

Spain is getting closer to calling an early general election. On Feb. 13, the Spanish Congress of Deputies rejected Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's budget plans for 2019, meaning a snap election is all but certain. Holding just 84 of 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, Sanchez's Socialist government has long been rickety, requiring support from other parties, including pro-independence parties from Catalonia, to pass the budget. The Catalan parties, however, voted against Sanchez's budget to protest the start of a trial this week against a dozen secessionist leaders. A spokesperson for the Spanish government said Madrid would make an announcement about its future plans on Feb. 15 amid media speculation that a general election could occur on either April 28 or May 26 (the latter of which would coincide with European Union parliamentary elections)....