MADRID — Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain on Friday was swept from office following a bruising two-day debate and a no-confidence vote in parliament, brought on by a slush-fund scandal swirling around his party.
The ouster was unprecedented in Spain’s modern democracy. The two-term, center-right Rajoy will be replaced by a leader of the opposition Socialist Party, who argued that corruption involving the conservative governing party made Rajoy unfit to lead.
The center-left Socialists were in turn accused by Rajoy and his supporters of an opportunistic power grab.
The vote to remove Rajoy from power was 180-169, with one abstention. It needed 176 votes to pass.
A somber, almost penitent Rajoy appeared in parliament Friday morning and in a brief speech said, “I will accept the decision.”
He added: “It has been an honor to be the leader of Spain and to leave it in a better state than the one I found. I believe I have satisfied my responsibility, which is to improve the lives of Spaniards. If I have offended someone in my role, I ask forgiveness.”
Challenged by a 25 percent youth unemployment rate, an uprising by the breakaway Catalan region, and a deep financial crisis that threatened the solvency of the euro, Rajoy was brought down after six years in office by the scandals that have plagued his Popular Party.
Spain’s National Court last week fined the party $287,000 and handed down tough sentences to 29 businesspeople and party officials, including its former treasurer, Luis Barcenas, who received a sentence of 33 years.
The court ruled that the party benefited from wide-ranging, systematic use of kickbacks from contracts. The crimes ranged from fraud and tax evasion to money laundering.
Although no sitting members of government were found to have committed any wrongdoing, Rajoy’s credibility was damaged. He had testified that there were no such slush funds.
“The facts proved in the sentence show that the president didn’t tell the truth,” Socialist Margarita Robles told parliament Friday. “It’s enough of covering up corruption. We are going to start a new stage.”
The turmoil in Spain comes as populist, anti-immigrant and euro-skeptical parties take power in Italy, and as Britain faces a decisive round of negotiations later this month to leave the European Union.
Rajoy is set to be replaced by the opposition Socialist Party and its leader, Pedro Sanchez, who will likely be sworn in over the weekend.
Sanchez has promised to abide by the 2018 budget negotiated by Rajoy, and most observers do not forecast any abrupt or radical change in governing.
The Sanchez government is likely to be a weak one, however. Sanchez is responsible for losing two general elections for his party in 2012 and 2016, and for securing the smallest parliamentary representation the historic party has ever held in Spain’s democracy. He heads a bloc of only 84 in the 350-seat parliament.
