Spain's deputy PM Iglesias to quit and run in Madrid vote

Spain's far-left Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias said on Monday he would resign from the coalition government to challenge Madrid's right-wing leadership in a regional election.

Fellow Unidas Podemos party member and Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz could take his place as deputy PM, he added in a video message.

"Madrid needs a left-wing government and I believe I can be useful in helping to win and lead it," he said of the May 4 vote.

Campaigning starts in the middle of April for the Madrid poll, which was triggered last week when regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso resigned after friction between her conservative People's Party and the centrist Ciudadanos party.

Podemos governs Spain in coalition with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist party.