- Pedro Sánchez has been elected as the new Prime Minister by a margin of just two votes.
The leader of the Socialist Party, PSOE, Pedro Sánchez has been elected as Prime Minister after winning a final vote in the Plenary Session by only two votes, 167 in favour with 165, the narrowest ever margin in constitutional Spain. There were 18 abstentions.
In the vote, which ws concluded just after 2.30pm today, Tuesday, there were no last-minute absences or surprises and the leader of the PSOE gaining the support of 167 deputies: 120 from the PSOE, 35 from Unidos Podemos and its confluences, six from the PNV, three from Más País-Equo-Compromís and the other three the representatives of Teruel Existe, Nueva Canarias and Galego Nationalist Block (BNG).
The ‘No’ block achieved 165 votes: the 88 of the PP, the 52 of Vox, the 10 from Ciudadanos, the eight of Junts per Catalunya, two of the CUP, two of Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), one of Foro Asturias, one of the Cantabrian Regionalist Party (PRC) and one more Canary Coalition, whose deputy Ana Oramas has remained in rejection even though she had previously agreed to abstain.
In the vote, which was carried out by each individual standing and announcing their vote in a loud voice, there were 18 abstentions, the 13 deputies of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) and the five of EH Bildu. The whole process took about 45 minutes to complete.
This was the second vote of this Plenary Session, as on Sunday, the eve of Kings, Sanchez needed an absolute majority (176 deputies), but he only obtained 166 votes.
In the second round, provided by the Constitution, which must take place 48 hours later, it is only necessary to have a simple majority, regardless of the difference.
