Acting PM tells king he seeks investiture vote and deals 'within constitutional framework'

Spain's acting prime minister, the Socialist Pedro Sánchez, informed King Felipe VI on Tuesday that he seeks an investiture vote in Congress in order to remain in power. 

The monarch, who has been in talks with the heads of the country's main parties - but not pro-independence Esquerra Republicana or Junts per Catalunya - to determine which has the greatest chance at forming a government, will soon have to announce a candidate. 

Because neither the Socialists, the second-most voted party on July 23, nor the conservative People's Party, the first-most voted party, have a clear majority, they will have to forge alliances beyond party lines if they wish to form a government. 

But a month after the general election, neither party has been able to secure the 176-MP majority that would allow them to do so.

Sánchez, whose party's speaker candidate was successful thanks to last-minute deals with the pro-independence parties, told the monarch that he would continue to seek their support "within the constitutional framework." 

The Socialists will need the votes of both Junts and Esquerra - tacit approval with abstentions will not be enough - but this is anything but certain, not least because former Catalan president Carles Puigdemon'ts party is demanding permission to hold an independence referendum while the Republicans also want an amnesty for all those who face charges relating to their attempts to split with Spain. 

PP still short of a majority

The head of the People's Party announced hours later that he too sought an investiture vote. 

Alberto Núñez Feijóo said his party hoped to govern alone but would "collaborate" with far-right Vox.

The People's Party, despite being the most-voted last month, has not been able to secure a majority in Congress, even with the backing of the far-right. 

The leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, met with Felipe VI hours earlier on Tuesday and told him that, despite not voting for People's Party speaker candidate Cuca Gamarra last week, his party would support a Feijóo investiture. 

The far-right politician, who blasted the "cordon sanitaire" that he says has formed around his party, said it was his duty to back Feijóo as the Socialists are in talks with Basque "descendants of terrorists" and Catalan "fugitives," a clear reference to EH Bildu and Junts. 

With Vox's votes, however, a conservative government is not yet guaranteed, as the party only has the backing of 172 MPs: the People's Party's 137, Vox's 33, and 2 from regional parties.

If the party that goes to the first investiture vote is unable to succeed, Congress is automatically dissolved two months later if no other candidate secures enough backing either, sending the country to the polls again.