Spain slipped onto a path towards a fourth general election in as many years on Thursday after its acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez failed to secure the parliamentary support he needed to form a new government.

Mr Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE), which won a snap poll in April but fell substantially short of a majority, was engaged in a back and forth with further-left Unidas Podemos over a possible coalition until hours before the decisive confidence vote in Congress.

With the parties opposed on which ministerial posts should be granted to the potential junior partner led by former communist Pablo Iglesias, Unidas Podemos abstained, whilst the conservative People’s Party (PP), liberal Ciudadanos and far-right Vox voted against Mr. Sánchez.

The caretaker head of government, who swept to power in June 2018 through a confidence vote aided by Unidas Podemos, has two months to regain its backing for a coalition or another minority administration, or Spain will return to the ballot boxes in November.

“I am very sorry to see that parliament remains blocked,” Mr Sánchez told MPs as he opened the plenary debate, before accusing Mr Iglesias of demanding disproportionate influence over policy and spending and “wanting to enter government in order to control the government.”

Meanwhile, Unidas Podemos maintained that it “does not want to enter government at any price” and said that it has made several concessions, including Mr Iglesias agreeing not to take a seat in the executive.