Spain set for new polls over no-confidence for Sanchez

ANKARA

Spain’s prime minister failed to secure a government after the country's parliament passed a second motion of no-confidence on Thursday.

In accordance with the Spain's constitution, the country will set a date for fresh general elections within two months of the first confidence vote on Tuesday. The country will hold its fourth general election in four years.

Pedro Sanchez rejected the latest counter-offer from the Podemos party -- seen as the ruling ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’s Party's (PSOE) most likely coalition partner -- just before the second confidence vote, failing to secure any consensus with the party.

In parliament, the vote on Sanchez was 124-155, with 67 abstentions.

The PSOE offered Podemos on Wednesday the vice presidency and three ministries.

However, Podemos demanded the Labor Ministry to invest in a new government -- which was excluded in the PSOE’s proposal.

Sanchez rejected the offer, evaluating it "more of the same" of earlier negations which bore no fruit, according to the EFE news agency.

The parliament withheld a decision of confidence from Sanchez in an initial round of voting, resulting in 124 for the proposed government, 170 against and 52 abstaining.

The vote was triggered after Sanchez failed to gather an absolute majority necessary to form a government since he won general elections in April.