MADRID – Spain’s new coalition government says that it will include five members from the left-wing, anti-austerity United We Can party.
The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has partnered with United We Can to give Spain its first coalition government since the restoration of democracy in 1978.
Sánchez’s government announced the names of United We Can’s four ministers on Thursday, with the names for the remaining Cabinet spots expected to come from the Socialist ranks to be announced in the coming days. It added that Sánchez’s Cabinet will have three more deputy prime ministers and that all will be women.
United We Can leader Pablo Iglesias will be a deputy prime minister in charge of social rights and sustainable development. Fellow party heavyweight, and wife, Irene Montero will be the minister of equality. Yolanda Díaz will be minister of labor; Alberto Garzón, minister of consumption; and Manuel Castells, minister of universities.
Sánchez won a tight confidence vote in the Spanish Parliament on Tuesday to win its endorsement to form a government, bringing end to nearly a year of his caretaker government.