Spanish far-left party ends talks to form govt – PM Sanchez

Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday that far-left party Podemos had ended talks on forming a new government. The statement comes a week before he faces an investiture vote in parliament.

Sanchez’s Socialist party won 123 seats in early polls in April, but fell far short of an absolute majority in the 350-seat assembly. To be sworn in for another term, he will need the backing of Podemos, which won 42 seats, as well as that of several other smaller regional parties.

Sanchez faces a confidence vote in parliament on his bid to form a new government on July 23. He said Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has “unilaterally broken” talks, as he has called for a vote by party members on that same day on whether to back the Socialists, AFP reports.

It is “a big smokescreen on the part of Iglesias to justify refusing my investiture,” Sanchez said.