Sanchez fails in first investiture vote Spain

Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez on Sunday failed in his first attempt to return to power as the prime minister on Sunday after he failed to win the necessary 176 seats for an overall majority in Spain's 350-seat lower chamber of parliament (the Congress of Deputies).

Although Sanchez won 166 votes in favor to 165 against and 18 abstentions; under the Spanish Constitution it was not enough to see him confirmed as Prime Minister in the first vote.

However, should that result be repeated in a second investiture vote to be held on Jan. 7, it would see Sanchez return to power as the head of a coalition government between the Socialists and the left wing Unidos Podemos party, as the Constitution only requires a simple majority in the second vote.

Sanchez has been acting prime minister since a first election in April and November did not produce a conclusive result.

Sunday saw the PSOE, Unidas Podemos, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Mas Pais, Compromis, and the regionalist parties Nueva Canarias, Teruel Existe and BNG (Galician Nationalist Bloc) lend Sanchez their support.

The right wing People's Party (PP), Cuidadanos and the extreme right wing Vox all voted against him, along with the Catalan separatist parties Junts Per Catalunya and CUP, Navarra Suma, Foro Asturias, Coalicion Canarias and the Cantabrian Regionalist Party (PRC).

Meanwhile, the 13 members of the Catalan separatist party Ezquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and the five deputies of the Basque separatists 'Bildu' abstained.

Speaking after the vote, Sanchez was "absolutely" convinced that he would maintain his support on Tuesday.

Sunday's vote came after a bad tempered debate in which the right wing parties accused Sanchez of threatening the unity of Spain with his agreement with ERC to hold talks over the issue of Catalan independence, although Sanchez insisted that any discussions for a "political solution" would fall under the limits of the Constitution.