As expected, PM Pedro Sanchez failed to.......>

SPAIN: As expected, PM Pedro Sanchez failed to gain enough support in the first

investiture vote held in the Spanish parliament on 5 January. 

- Sanchez's centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and its allies

gained 166 votes in the first investiture vote, short of the 176 needed for an

absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies. 165 deputies voted against

Sanchez, with 18 abstentions and one absentee.

- Nevertheless, with the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and EH Bildu parties

set to abstain on the second investiture vote on 7 Jan, Sanchez looks set for

victory. Only a simple majority is required in the second vote, and if the first

vote is replicated Sanchez will be confirmed by a single-vote margin.

- The PSOE will sit in coalition with the far-left Unidas Podemos (UP), the

Basque Nationalist Party, and several small left-wing regionalist parties.      

- Even with all these parties combined, the coalition will still be short of a

majority in the Congress of Deputies, meaning that the gov't will rely on

support from the ERC to pass legislation. This in turn will require some

concessions to Catalonia from Madrid.