Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday he would launch a new bid to build an alliance with other opposition forces to challenge the conservative minority government, as his centre-left party formally backed his re-appointment. Sanchez made a surprise comeback in May when grassroots Socialist supporters re-elected him as leader eight months after he was ousted in an internal party rift.
Socialist delegates rubber-stamped his appointment at a meeting on Sunday, after months of turmoil following poor results in two inconclusive national elections in 2015 and 2016. The Socialists came second behind the conservative People's Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in those two ballots, but their score was severely dented as voters switched to a newer leftist rival, Podemos ("We Can").
Sanchez's attempts early last year to forge an alliance with Podemos and other parties fell flat, but on Sunday he urged rivals to unite against Rajoy in a fragmented parliament. "We have an opportunity to come together every week with other parties in parliament to reverse and to dismantle a big part of the laws passed by the PP," Sanchez told cheering party members in Madrid. He said he would take aim at a PP labour reform which was criticised by unions for weakening workers' rights, and added that the Socialists would form a group with other parties to coordinate which laws to block or undo.