Screen shot: From Íñigo Errejón’s tweet: Goodbye Rajoy. Goodbye PP.Although the emotionally vertiginous nature of Spain’s sudden change of government can lead to hyperbole, today’s motion of no-confidence that has resulted in the immediate change of government in Spain is historic, and its impact potentially game changing.
In terms of Spanish politics it is only the fourth motion of no-confidence that has been put to a vote in democracy, and the first to prosper. It is also the first time that the person taking on the presidency of the government, Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE, is not currently a member of Parliament.
Sánchez’s path to the presidency has been remarkable, worthy in fact of a film treatment in itself. Faced with the possibility (some would say impossibility) of forming a government in 2016, Sanchez missed his historic moment then, and his fortunes declined rapidly afterward. Ousted from the leadership of his party by an internal coup, he abandoned his seat in parliament and took to the road, traversing the towns of Spain, building a grassroots base of support and connecting with his electorate.
