The leader of the Spanish Socialist party, Pedro Sanchez, has failed to form a new government.
Although it was the worst result in their history, the Socialists came second in the 20 December election. That general election was nevertheless inconclusive as no one party gained sufficient votes to govern alone. Since then, jockeying around by the four main parties has not resulted in a coalition agreement.
On Wednesday Sanchez went to parliament to seek its approval by a vote of confidence to make him prime minister.
Against this proposal were 219 votes while only 130 MPs voted in favour, namely those from the Socialist party as well as a newcomer Ciudadanos whose market-friendly policies gained it 40 votes in the December election.
By last week, the Socialists and Ciudadanos had managed finally to come to an accord over their policies, but Podemos would not join them.
Against were all the MPs from the conservative Popular Party and the new far-left Podemos party.
The vote of confidence procedure is in accord with the constitutional provisions which also allow for a second vote of confidence in which just a simple majority is required.
The second vote is to be held on Friday.
If Sanchez fails the second vote, a two-month countdown will start, during which the parties will try again to agree a coalition.
Failing that, new elections will be called, most likely on June 26th.
Recent polls suggest that a fresh election would see the four main parties achieving roughly the same result as they did in the December election.
