Sanchez Wins Backing for His Anti-Austerity Coalition in Spain
- Parliamentary vote ends nine months of political gridlock
- Spain gets first coalition government since the 1930s
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Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez won the narrowest of victories in parliament on Tuesday to take power for a second term in Spain with the backing of the anti-austerity party Podemos and a Catalan separatist group.
Sanchez, 47, had 167 lawmakers backing him and 165 against, to win a decisive second round of voting. He fell short of the absolute majority he needed in the first ballot held on Sunday. That slim victory, facilitated by 18 abstentions, including 13 from the pro-independence Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party, underscores the difficulty he’ll face to pass the litany of legislation his coalition has promised their voters.