This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Spain’s ruling socialist party has reached a preliminary coalition deal with the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos to try to form a government after the country’s second inconclusive election in seven months.

Pedro Sánchez, the acting prime minister and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), announced the agreement following a meeting with the Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, on Tuesday afternoon.

The move comes less than 48 hours after the PSOE won Spain’s fourth general election in as many years but once again fell short of a majority.

Sunday’s election was triggered after the PSOE failed to find viable support for a new administration after its victory in April. The socialists and Unidas Podemos were unable to reach an agreement afterwards, while the centre-right Citizens party flatly refused to do anything to facilitate Sánchez’s return to office.

Sánchez – who said only two months ago that he would have trouble sleeping if he had Podemos ministers in his government – said the disagreements of the past no longer mattered.

“The Spanish people have spoken and now it is time for its political leaders to implement that will and to overcome the deadlock that Spain has suffered in recent times,” he said.

Iglesias said the newly minted alliance needed to concentrate on the challenges of the present, including the resurgent crisis over Catalan independence and the threat posed by the far-right Vox party, which finished third on Sunday.

“We’ve reached a preliminary agreement to form a progressive coalition government in Spain, a progressive coalition government that combines the PSOE’s experience with the courage of Unidas Podemos. A government that works towards dialogue when it comes to the territorial crisis and for social justice as the best vaccine against the far right,” he said.

The PSOE won 120 seats on Sunday, three fewer than in the previous, inconclusive election.

The conservative People’s party (PP) won 88 seats, followed by Vox, which more than doubled its number of seats from 24 to 52.

Spain’s far-right Vox hits back at Rosalía over election jibe Read more

Unidas Podemos came fourth with 35 seats, followed by the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left, with 13 seats. Citizens slumped to sixth place, as the 57 seats it picked up seven months ago dwindled to 10. The party’s leader, Albert Rivera, resigned on Monday.

Despite the agreement, the arithmetic will still be difficult as 176 seats are needed for a majority in the 350-seat congress of deputies.

Between them, the PSOE and Unidas Podemos have 155, to which they can probably add the three won by Más País, a new leftwing party led by Íñigo Errejón, one of the founders of Podemos.

However, they will still need the support of some of Spain’s smaller parties, including Basque and Catalan nationalists, which will doubtless be seized on by both the PP and Vox.

Spain’s rightwing parties have repeatedly accused Sánchez of being too soft on the resurgent Catalan independence movement and of being too beholden to the Catalan separatist parties who helped him into office last year by backing his successful motion of no confidence against the previous PP government.

The new coalition may be able to win office by persuading opposition parties to abstain: in the second round of an investiture debate only a simple majority – more votes for than against – is needed.

The PP leader, Pablo Casado, accused Sánchez and Iglesias of forming “a radical government, which is the last thing Spain needs at the moment”.

Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, accused the PSOE of embracing “Venezuelan-style communism”, adding that Unidas Podemos were complicit in what he termed the ongoing “coup” in Catalonia.

Citizens, meanwhile, refused to support the proposed coalition, saying: “It’s awful and runs counter to the interests of the majority of Spaniards.”

News of the deal was greeted more warmly on the left.

“An agreement has been reached for a coalition government between Unidas Podemos and the Socialists,” tweeted Alberto Garzón, the leader of Podemos’s partners, United Left. “Today is a day for celebration.”

Errejón tweeted: “The Spanish people have provided a second opportunity for a progressive government that can bring about a fairer country. That mandate must be fulfilled.”