A smart move by Pablo Iglesias in the style of what Artur Mas did in 2016: he steps aside, and agrees not to be part of the Pedro Sánchez government, but he will choose all the Podemos ministers in the new coalition, and the party's importance in the new Spanish cabinet will be proportional to its parliamentary strength - one third of the PSOE (Socialist) total. Iglesias has thus made an emphatic response to the Socialists after the latter began desperately spreading the idea that their only veto was against the Podemos leader, all of them totally convinced that Iglesias would not give up his objective of becoming part of the cabinet.
Iglesias stands aside, but his narrative will gain strength among the left, whether it works out well for him - gaining ministers in the Spanish government - or goes badly, with the calling of new elections. In either case, the problem will not have been him and his ambition to be part of the Spanish Government come what may. He destroys the Sánchez strategy and makes negotiation the top priority: a deputy PM role and five ministers for Podemos. In addition, in the policies that the left-wing party wants to implement, there is no difference in practice between Iglesias, Montero or Echenique, to mention two names that have been placed on the table in recent days.
If Sánchez agrees to play Iglesias' game, something which remains to be seen, between now and Tuesday's first Congress vote on the investiture - requiring an absolute majority - and then Thursday's - when a simple majority will suffice - the votes of the Catalan pro-independence parties will also be necessary, even though they may be given in the euphemistic form of abstentions. At this moment of play, they would be, hypothetically, votes given freely in the short term by the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) or by Together for Catalonia (JxCat).
The two Catalan parties are slightly inclined to vote in favour of a coalition government of this nature, nevertheless knowing that whatever they do, their decision will not be understood by all of their voters. The silence of the PSOE in the scandalous case of the links between Spanish intelligence and the imam of Ripoll in the days leading up to the 2017 Barcelona and Cambrils terror attacks, revealed by the information that has been published this week is, in addition, very difficult to digest for the two pro-independence parties. However, in both groups there seems to be an important current in favour of not preventing a government which, who knows, might be able to open some sort of door on the Catalan issue, a circumstance which has not occurred yet, and which is remote; but, for these leaders, it is the only possible option to explore.