MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday lost a key vote over his budget plans as political allies who brought him to power last month decided to abstain, showing how fragile his minority socialist administration is.

Sanchez, who controls only 84 seats in the 350-seat parliament, cannot pass the budget without those parties which backed a no-confidence motion against his conservative predecessor in June.

Only 88 members of parliament voted in favor of the government’s proposal to soften the deficit-cutting path, while 173 voted against and 86 abstained. Three deputies did not take part to the vote.