Sánchez faces vote to win new term as Spain PM amid growing anger over amnesty deal

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Spain’s acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez is on course to secure a new term in a parliamentary vote on Thursday as anger grows over an amnesty deal for Catalan separatists that has become the price for the Socialist leader to retain power.

The speaker of Spain’s Congress of Deputies said a two-day process leading to Sánchez’s expected confirmation would begin on Wednesday, almost four months after an inconclusive election in July in which his party finished second.

Late on Monday the Socialists published the official text of an amnesty law for Catalan separatists, which is a precondition for Sánchez to secure the votes he needs from smaller parties to reach a 176-seat majority.

The amnesty will end the prosecution, prison terms and other penalties facing pro-independence leaders and supporters who backed a bid by Catalonia to break away from Spain that culminated in a referendum in 2017.

The plan has sparked fury among conservatives and traditionalists in the Socialist party, who accuse Sánchez of cynically granting special treatment to separatists at the cost of trashing the rule of law.

The amnesty is likely to benefit more than 500 people, spanning those in criminal cases and others facing administrative penalties such as bans from public office, said one official in the Catalan independence movement.

Its most high-profile beneficiary is expected to be Carles Puigdemont, head of the hardline Together for Catalonia party, who six years ago led the push for an unlawful referendum and a futile declaration of independence. He has since been living in Belgium as a fugitive from Spanish justice.

The proposed amnesty has drawn condemnation from prosecutors, judges, lawyers, police officers and Spain’s main business lobby, the CEOE. Tens of…