On Thursday, the PSOE reached a deal with the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party on the amnesty law. The deal will allow Sanchez to be reelected as prime minister of Spain. Later that day, the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary lodged a protest against the agreement reached between Sanchez and the Catalan party on the amnesty law.
The media reported that over 300 supporters of Catalonia’s independence and 73 police officers accused of using force during the 2017 referendum could fall under the amnesty law. The law also provides for the annulment of criminal and administrative liability of all those who committed crimes related to the secession process of Catalonia during the last decade, from January 1, 2012 to November 13, 2023.
In this case, former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who is still under investigation for organizing an illegal referendum in 2017, will be able to return to Spain without any proceedings.
In July, Spain held a general election where the right-wing People's Party (PP) received the most votes and 137 seats out of 350 in the Spanish parliament. However, even with the support of the another right-wing VOX party, it still fell short of the 176 seats needed to form a government.
At the moment, Sanchez has the support of 179 lawmakers. His party has managed to garner the support of the left coalition bloc Sumar, the Junts per Catalunya party, the Republican Left of Catalonia, the Basque leftist party EH Bildu, the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), the Basque Nationalist Party and the Canarian Coalition (CC) party, which had previously sided with the PP.