The leader of Spain’s Socialists Pedro Sanchez lost a parliamentary vote yesterday to become the country’s next prime minister, securing the backing of only 130 representatives in the 350-strong assembly.
The Socialists and liberal newcomer Ciudadanos voted in favour of Sanchez while the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP), anti-austerity upstart Podemos, the former communist Izquierda Unida and four regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia voted against him.
A small party from the Canary Islands abstained.
Sanchez can still be elected prime minister if he wins a simple majority of seats in a second vote tomorrow although that scenario is unlikely too, as parties who voted against him yesterday have already said they won’t change their vote.
No candidate for prime minister has failed in both confidence votes since Spain returned to democracy in the mid-1970s.
Spain has made little headway in resolving a political deadlock since a fragmented election result in December, when voters turned in their millions to Podemos (“We Can”) and Ciudadanos (“Citizens”).
An acrimonious debate in parliament yesterday, ahead of a vote on Sanchez’s plan to team up with Ciudadanos, suggested parties were little closer to putting their differences aside.
Leaders skimmed over policy issues with a volley of recriminations over who was to blame for the deadlock.
“This is a fictitious, unreal candidature,” acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the centre-right People’s Party (PP) told members of parliament, adding his party would vote against it.
Rajoy branded the alliance, with just 130 seats behind it, as a “bluff” and a threat to national interests which sought only to undo the reforms his government brought in over the past four years.
Sanchez, whose Socialists were runners-up behind the PP in the December 20 ballot, needed an absolute majority – equivalent to 176 votes – to be elected prime minister yesterday.
Even natural allies are still divided on many fronts, at a time when Spain’s economic turnaround still needs nurturing, notably to fix a dysfunctional labour market in which unemployment is above 20%.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said earlier that his party would also vote against Sanchez and push instead for an alliance only between leftist forces.
“Your pact does not protect workers,” Iglesias said, accusing Sanchez of aligning with the right.
A fraught relationship between Sanchez and Rajoy, meanwhile,  has put further distance between the two rivals.
The acting premier’s attacks yesterday raised questions as to whether he could persuade the Socialists to back him as leader in any subsequent votes in the coming weeks.
With 123 seats to its name, the PP is also stuck for allies.
“Rajoy came across as someone already in election mode,” said Vincenzo Scarpetta, a political analyst at the Open Europe think tank in London, adding the tense exchanges between leaders had set the scene for a tough two months of talks. “Based on the debate it has become very difficult to envisage a breakthrough.”
An uneven recovery from the economic crisis partly fuelled the political backlash in Spain, echoing an upset in Portugal last year that resulted in a fragile leftist coalition.
A similar story unfolded in Ireland last week, with an inconclusive election.
Corruption scandals have also tainted mainstream Spanish parties and especially the PP, and these are likely to weigh on negotiations.
Sanchez – who defended his bid to unblock the stalemate after Rajoy passed up the first opportunity to try to form a government – hit back at Rajoy, saying he was becoming “a blockage for the renewal” of his party.
Even Ciudadanos, which praised the PP for helping to reboot the economy, rounded on Rajoy.
“You’re not a credible (person) to lead this new political phase,” said leader Albert Rivera.