2016 PSOE crisis was a political conflict within the Spanish Socialist Workers ' Party ( PSOE ) , starting on 26 September 2016 . Long-standing discontent with party Secretary General Pedro Sánchez and the combination of a series of circumstances resulted in a party revolt to force Sánchez 's dismissal on 28 September , in an episode lasting until 1 October colloquially dubbed by some media and journalists as War of the Roses ( ) . The ensuing power vacuum and Sánchez 's replacement by an interim managing committee , coupled with the party 's turn to allow a PP minority government after a 10-month deadlock on government formation and the resulting worsening of relations with its sister party in Catalonia , the PSC , triggered a crisis of a scale unprecedented in the party 's 137 years of existence
government formation
2015–16 Spanish government formation
2016 PSOE crisis