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Voting begins in Socialist bid to form Spain government Spain’s Socialist Party loses bid to form government
(35 minutes later)
MADRID — Spain’s members of parliament have started voting on Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez’ bid to form a new government, two months after the country held inconclusive elections. MADRID — Spain’s Socialist Party has lost its first attempt to form a government following a first parliamentary vote.
The voting Wednesday night was expected to take at least an hour but Sanchez was virtually guaranteed defeat after parties commanding 192 seats in the 350-seat parliament confirmed they would vote against him. The Socialists got 130 votes, with 219 against them and one abstention.
Sanchez needs at least 176 votes to form a government but only has his party’s 90 votes plus 40 from the centrist Ciudadanos party. The voting Wednesday happened more than two months after a Dec. 20 election that saw the nation’s traditional two-party system fractured with the entry of two new upstart parties.
The conservative Popular Party run by acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the far-left Podemos party said they would vote against Sanchez’ effort. If Sanchez loses, a second vote on his candidacy will be held Friday. Voters cast ballots for the new far-left Podemos and business friendly Ciudadanos because of outrage with the governing Popular Party and the Socialists over high unemployment, unpopular austerity measures and official corruption.
The Socialists get another change on Friday with a second vote.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.