National
Gaspar Llamazares resigns as left wing coalition leader in Spain
By h.b.
Oct 6, 2008 - 7:43 AM

The leader of the left wing coalition, Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares, has announced that he will be presenting his resignation on October 25, ahead of the group’s ninth general assembly which is to be held in Asturias on November 15 and 16.

He says he has taken the decision to ‘calm’ some of the emotions in the coalition, but has also made it clear that he intends to continue as an active deputy in Congress.

EFE news agency reports that he finally made the decision in the early hours of Sunday, and it seems the rest of the party consider it to be ‘coherent and correct’.

Llamazares is currently the only I.U. deputy in Congress after a dramatic collapse of their vote at the last general election where they found themselves squeezed by the fighting between the two main parties. He’s held the post since 2000, when there were nine deputies in Congress.