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The leader of the Socialist party in Spain, Pedro Sánchez, was narrowly approved as prime minister by Parliament on Tuesday, clearing his way to form the country’s first coalition government since the return to democracy in the 1970s.
The vote ended months of political stalemate, during which Mr. Sánchez had led a caretaker administration. He will now preside over a fragile minority government from the left. Its survival could hinge on his ability to bring to an end the long-simmering dispute over Catalonia, the restive region in northeastern Spain.
Last year, Spain held two national elections, in April and in November. Mr. Sánchez’s Socialists won both, but each time without a parliamentary majority.
After a slightly weaker result in the November balloting, Mr. Sánchez agreed to form a coalition with Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the smaller and more radical Unidas Podemos party.
It then took seven more weeks for Mr. Sánchez to garner sufficient support from smaller regional parties, particularly separatist lawmakers from Catalonia, to achieve the backing he needed to become prime minister.
Together, the Socialists and Unidas Podemos hold 155 of the 350 seats in Parliament.
The novelty of a coalition government reflects in large part an increasingly volatile and fragmented political landscape, which has made it nearly impossible for any single party in Spain to emerge from an election as a clear-cut winner, as had regularly been the case until 2015, when the country’s two-party system imploded. [...]