MADRID, July 13 (UPI) -- The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party has threatened to oust President Mariano Rajoy through a vote of no-confidence, officials said.

The vote was prompted by Rajoy's conservative People's Party's decision to keep Rajoy from testifying in a case involving Luis Barcenas Gutierrez, a former treasurer and senator of the PP accused of paying extra wages to top party members, including Rajoy, over a 10-year period, ThinkSpain reported Saturday.


The PP said Rajoy did not need to testify in the case because he has "said all he has got to say" and had nothing else of value to add to court proceedings.

Socialist spokeswoman Soraya Rodriguez said her party has "not ruled out" the possibility of a no-confidence vote.

PP Congress spokesman Alfonso Alonso says he does not believe the Socialists will follow through with their threat because it does not meet the basic requirements for a no-confidence vote to prosper -- having a candidate to replace Rajoy before the vote, having a "clear alternative government plan" with potential ministers ready to take over each department, and having enough votes in favor from each of its members to form a majority.

Alonso says the socialists do not meet any of these three requirements.