Forty-three days after Spain’s inconclusive election, the country’s king has asked socialist party leader Pedro Sánchez to try to form a government.



Although the ruling Popular party won the most seats in the 20 December election, with 123 to the socialists’ 90, the PP leader Mariano Rajoy said he didn’t have enough support to form a government. However, he added that he was not withdrawing from the contest, apparently in the hope that the socialists would come around to the idea of a “grand coalition”, the only combination that would guarantee the necessary majority of 176 seats.



Sánchez says he wants to form a “progressive government for change”, a clear appeal to the radical Podemos party, which won 69 seats in its first general election. “I’m serious about this,” he said tonight, openly borrowing the PP’s election slogan. However, a coalition of the two would deliver only 159 seats, or 161 if the United Left party joins them, leaving the Catalan and Basque nationalists with the balance of power.



The socialist party bosses are opposed to a coalition with Podemos, above all because its manifesto calls for referendums on independence for the so-called “historic nationalities” – Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia – even though Podemos makes it clear that it would prefer to preserve the existing Spanish state.



Sanchez could have a majority if he persuaded the other new party, the centre-right Ciudadanos, to come on board, but Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has said he won’t join a coalition that includes Ciudadanos. The two main Catalan parties, with 17 seats between them, also say they wouldn’t join a coalition with Podemos.



Spain has effectively been a two-party state since democracy was reinstated in 1978 and the current stalemate is unprecedented. For King Felipe, who has been on the throne for only 18 months, these are also uncharted waters.



There have been minority governments in the past, but both parties have been able to count on the support of the Basques and Catalans in return for more concessions on autonomy. Now, however, the Catalans aren’t asking for a bigger slice of the cake; they want their own cake, and are likely to support only a government that offers them a binding referendum on independence. This is anathema to most in the socialist party, whose leaders would prefer a coalition with PP than with Podemos.



Added to the mix is the fact that it’s an open secret that both PP and the socialists would like to ditch their leaders, which is one reason why Rajoy refuses to withdraw his candidacy. Sanchez, on the other hand, knows that the only way he can continue as part leader is by becoming president.



“I’m going to need at least a month to negotiate,” Sanchez has told the king. Spain could well be heading for its first 100 days without a government.

