Spain parliament to vote on Rajoy

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to make another effort to win a parliamentary confidence vote to win a second term in office and form a new government to end the 8-month political deadlock festering the country.

The attempt to win a vote of confidence in parliament on Friday at about 8:00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) is Rajoy's second effort in that regard this week.

In his first attempt on Wednesday, Rajoy secured the backing of 170 representatives, falling six short of the 176 votes needed for an absolute majority in the 350-seat assembly.

The leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP) has failed to win support from the opposition so far and all efforts to form a coalition government have been to no avail.

The two left-leaning parties, the Socialists and Unidos Podemos ("Together We Can"), are strongly opposed to Rajoy leading the government.

Rajoy’s PP has 137 parliamentary seats and the Liberal Ciudadanos has 32 seats. The Socialists party has 85, and the Unidos Podemos coalition led by anti-austerity party Podemos has 71 seats. 

Without the backing or at least an abstention from the Socialists or Podemos, it would be impossible for Rajoy to secure a majority for a second term in office.

SS