Rajoy sworn in as sixth PM in Spain's democratic era

Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy was voted in this morning by Congress as the sixth prime minister of the democratic era. Members of the PP were joined by the Asturian Forum and the Navarrese People's Union in casting 185 votes in favor, while 149 votes against were lodged by the Socialist Party, the Catalan nationalist bloc CiU, the United Left, Unión Democracia y Progreso, the Galician Nationalist Bloc, GeroaBai and Compromís-Equo.

The biggest surprise of Tuesday morning's ceremony in Congress was the abstention of Basque abertzale left party Amaiur, which aligned itself with the Basque Nationalist Party and the Canarian Coalition. "Given the voting system, we abstained because we will not participate in the election of a prime minister in the Spanish government," Amaiur said afterward in a statement.

"I am content, because there have been many years of hard work," were the new prime minister's first words on the floor of Congress. "I am full of enthusiasm, excitement and determination to take Spain forward." Rajoy said that his Cabinet would not be revealed until at least Wednesday afternoon.

The incoming interior minister already will have a full plate to deal with: Amaiur, the latest incarnation of the abertzale left, which has been absent from parliament for 18 years, ensured that the question of ETA and the Basque Country was to the fore during the investiture. Iñaki Antigüedad, Amaiur's spokesman, said that if Rajoy wished to be a "statesman" he should seek "an integral solution to a conflict that is political," and the solution to which lies in home rule for the northern region. Antigüedad accused the government of not committing to take steps toward peace in the region.

"I owe you absolutely nothing," Rajoy responded after Antigüedad had read the definition of "radical" from the Spanish dictionary. "Neither I, nor Spanish society. In democracy all ideas are defensible. Those that are not defensible are non-democratic methods. The step that we are waiting for is that ETA, which still exists, announces its irreversible dissolution. Spaniards need guarantees that there will be no threats, no blackmail - that this has ended."