Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy ousted

Mariano Rajoy has been ousted as Spain’s prime minister by a no-confidence vote that was carried by parliament.

The motion paves the way for a takeover by opposition socialist PSOE party leader Pedro Sanchez, his archrival.

The vote was carried by 180 MPs – four more than than the 176 needed in the 350-seat parliament – with 176 voting against the motion and one abstention.

Rajoy admitted defeat ahead of the vote, which was certain to topple him.

“It’s been an honour – there is none bigger – to have been Spain’s prime minister,” he told parliament after congratulating Sanchez, with lawmakers from his conservative Popular Party (PP) giving him a standing ovation.

“Today we are signing a new page in the history of democracy in our country,” Sanchez told parliament where MPs were to begin voting at 0901 GMT.

But PP lawmaker Rafael Hernando told him he would be entering the prime minister’s office “through the backdoor” after failing to win the vote in 2015 and 2016.

“For the first time we may get a prime minister who didn’t win elections,” he retorted.

In order to push through the no-confidence motion, the socialists, who hold just 84 of the parliament’s 350 seats, had to cosy up to parties they have previously clashed with, such as the Catalan separatists and the anti-establishment Podemos.

Rajoy is the first Spanish premier to lose a no-confidence vote since the country transitioned to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Although Rajoy survived a similar vote last year, today’s ballot draws a line under the 63-year-old’s rollercoaster time in office, which began in 2011 and saw him implementing drastic spending cuts before winning re-election in 2015 and 2016.

Despite winning the last two votes, he lacked the absolute majority of his first term.

He put Spain back on to the path of growth after a devastating economic crisis although unemployment remains sky-high, jobs precarious, and many complain inequalities have risen.

But his term in office was also marred by a series of corruption scandals involving former PP members.

And it was another graft scandal that prompted the socialists to table the no-confidence motion after a court said it had uncovered a vast system of bribes given to former PP officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts between 1999 and 2005.

The National Court, which deals with major criminal cases, sentenced 29 people with links to the PP, including a former treasurer, to jail.

It also ordered the party to pay back 245 000 euros ($290 000) received from the scheme to help finance election campaigns.