Spanish centre-right leader seeks meeting with acting PM to break deadlock

The leader of Spain's center-right Ciudadanos party has requested a meeting with acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to try to break a political deadlock and avoid a repeat election.

Albert Rivera, who on Monday made a conditional offer to support Sanchez's bid to be confirmed as premier, said on Tuesday he had written a letter suggesting a meeting. Spain has been in political limbo since an inconclusive election in April in which the Socialist Party won most seats but failed to secure a majority.

If parliament does not confirm Sanchez as prime minister by next Monday, the country will hold another election in November - its fourth parliamentary ballot in as many years. Socialist sources initially snubbed Rivera's offer on Monday as political maneuvering, but a high-ranking Socialist minister, Jose Luis Abalos, said later that Sanchez would be willing to meet with Rivera if his proposal of possible support for Sanchez was sincere.

"There is still time," Rivera told Telecinco. Rivera, who has been largely absent from the political debate for months and refused to meet with Sanchez in July, on Monday set out three conditions to drop opposition to a Sanchez government.

These were a pledge not to increase taxes, the chance to apply direct rule again in Catalonia if the regional government rejects an upcoming verdict in a trial of separatist leaders and rejection of a pact with Basque nationalists in Navarra. Sanchez said on Monday that Rivera's demands already corresponded to his policy plans, but Rivera insisted on Tuesday he must formally agree to them in a pact with opposition parties.

"If he says these conditions are already met, he needs to put them on the table, sign up to them and fulfill them," he said. Aware of voters' weariness with repeated elections, Spanish political leaders have spent much of their energy over the past months trying to deflect any blame for a possible new poll and it was unclear if this week's unexpected developments could be a game-changer or were part of pre-campaign moves.

The failure of Sanchez's Socialists to secure an outright victory in April illustrated how politics in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy have fragmented with the emergence of new parties. All the main party leaders are meeting with King Felipe later on Tuesday and are expected to tell him if they would back Sanchez's bid to become premier.

This was expected to be the day when Spanish voters would know if there would be new elections, but if a meeting between Sanchez and Rivera is indeed planned, the leaders could ask the king for more time before a final decision, ahead of the Monday's ultimate deadline. Sanchez will call Rivera, Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, and People's Party leader Pablo Casado on Tuesday morning to learn if they could back his bid to be confirmed as premier, public broadcaster TVE said, citing a government source.