Spain is facing a third election in just over 12 months after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lost a parliamentary confidence vote
Spain is on the brink of a third election in just over 12 months after acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lost a parliamentary confidence vote.
Rajoy secured the backing of 170 representatives in Spain's assembly of 350, leaving him just six seats short of a majority.
Unless Rajoy, or another candidate, can secure the backing of the Spanish parliament by October, the country could head to a fresh election in December.
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Rajoy has been prime minister since 2011, but his conservative People's Party lost 64 seats, and its majority, in a vote last December which left the country in deadlock.
A second vote in June saw the PP increase its vote, but still remain short of a majority, with the socialist PSOE in second place.
And while the latest parliamentary vote saw Rajoy secure the backing of the anti-corruption Cuidadanos Party, and a small party from the Canary Islands, he was blocked from forming a government by the socialists, the anti-austerity alliance Unidos Podemos, and regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia.