Pedro Sánchez, the juggler who had to legitimize his power with votes

MADRID .- He came to power by juggling, stayed in the midst of obstacles and Sunday's elections managed to win with a good margin to form a government with allies. This is the socialist's bet

Pedro Sánchez

, outgoing president of the Spanish government.

Considered politically dead after losing the last two general elections, Sanchez was surprised in June to seize power as part of a motion of censure against his conservative predecessor.

Mariano Rajoy

, sunk by corruption in the popular party.

However, with only 84 deputies out of 350 in the lower house, this economist by training had to govern at close range, seeking agreements with the radical left of Podemos and the Catalan independence fighters, who had supported his investiture.

The fragile alliance held by his government, the most minority in 40 years of democracy in Spain, was broken when, in February, the Catalan parties saw their budgets 2019 weakened.

At the third general election in less than four years, Sanchez now wants to capitalize on his experience as head of government, which none of his rivals have ever been, and show himself to be the embodiment of stability. .

A task in which took the hand of balance, baduming the increase of the minimum wage to 22% or measures to promote equality between men and women.

"He adopts a presidential position, exploiting this image of the one who governs and who must adopt a position of moderation, solvency, seriousness," said Cristina Monge, political scientist at the University of Zaragoza.

He also underlined the fact that Sánchez is now "very settled on the left" and benefited from the internal divisions of Podemos, the party to which many socialist voters went to the 2015 and 2016 legislative elections.

After the victory of the PSOE, but without the absolute majority, the enigma is the one with which he would agree. To state a majority, it would take at least Podemos and another party, for example the Basque conservative nationalists of the PNV. It is thought that he would not need the support of Catalan separatists.

A fighting spirit

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón was born on February 29, 1972 in Madrid, in a well-to-do family: head of the company father and mother.

Married and father of two daughters, studied economics in the Spanish capital, obtained a master's degree in political economy from the Free University of Brussels, then a controversial doctorate in a private university in Madrid, suspected of plagiarism that He firmly denied.

Teenager, the basketball player measuring 1.90 meters joined the PSOE in his youth and was successively advisor to the mayor of Madrid from 2004 to 2009 and deputy.

He entered the story of the game in July 2014 by winning the first primary elections held in the formation.

But the following years would be a real roller coaster. After the losses of 2015 and 2016, he fell on October 1 of this year into an internal rebellion of his party, which made him responsible for the bad results.

A few months later, he returned to the roads with a handful of faithful and, despite the animosity of the "establishment" of the PSOE, during the primaries of May 2017, won the regional president of the Andalusia, Susana Díaz.