Spain PM names five far-left ministers

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday confirmed that hard-left Podemos party head Pablo Iglesias would serve as a deputy in his new government, which would also include four other far-left ministers.

The official statement from his office came just two days after Sanchez won a confidence vote, paving the way for a new government following nearly a year of political deadlock.

Iglesias will serve as one of four deputies, three of whom will be women.

Sanchez’s current deputy, Carmen Calvo, will continue in the role but will also be joined by current Economy Minister Nadia Calviño and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera.

Fellow Podemos lawmaker Irene Montero, former party spokeswoman and also Iglesias’ partner in life, has been named minister of equality, while two other posts went to members of the far-left Unidas Podemos coalition: Yolanda Diaz will serve as labour minister and communist MP Alberto Garzon will take the consumer affairs portfolio.

Sociologist Manuel Castells, who is close to Podemos, will head the universities ministry.

The full cabinet lineup will be unveiled “in the coming days”, the statement said.

Sanchez takes over as head of a minority coalition government after winning investiture by a razor-thin margin of just two votes.

But with only 155 of the parliament’s 350 seats, the new government will struggle to push through legislation, with its first order of business to pass the long-overdue state budget.

It will be Spain’s first coalition government since the 1930s.

Spain has been gripped by political instability since the December 2015 election, which saw the emergence of Ciudadanos and the far-left Podemos, ending three decades of bipartisan hegemony by the Socialists and conservative Popular Party (PP).