Sanchez wins Spanish parliament's backing for new term as PM

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez meets with NASA administrator Bill Nelson (not pictured), at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Juan Medina/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's lower house of parliament on Thursday voted to make Pedro Sanchez prime minister for another term by a wafer-thin margin, ending a protracted deadlock after an inconclusive general election in July.

His Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) had reached separate deals with a number of regional parties to earn their backing, including a contentious bill on amnesty for Catalan separatists that has sparked protests across Spain.

Sanchez's bid garnered 179 votes in favour and 171 against, with no abstentions. The "nays" stemmed from the conservative People's Party, the far-right Vox and the People's Union of Navarre's lone lawmaker.

PSOE's hard-left ally Sumar, Catalan pro-independence parties Junts and ERC, Basque parties PNV and EH Bildu, Galicia's BNG and the Canary Coalition all voted for Sanchez, who first acceded to the office in 2018.

(Reporting by Belén Carreño, Inti Landauro and Emma Pinedo; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip)