A new election in June for Spain seemed all but inevitable today after the leader of the country's Socialist party said he was open to a last-minute deal for a coalition government proposed by a small leftist group but predicted he wouldn't get enough support to pull it off.
Pedro Sanchez said Spain is "doomed to a call for new elections" after meeting with King Felipe VI, who has spent the last two days with political leaders to determine whether he should pick one to try to form a government or set a fresh national election for June 26 in a bid to break four months of political paralysis.
The poll would happen six months after the last election on December 20 that saw the downfall of the country's traditional two-party system as voters enraged by high unemployment, corruption and austerity cuts strongly supported two new upstart parties.
Felipe was expected to decide today night whether or not Spain will hold another election after meeting with acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who told the king today for the second time since January that he doesn't have enough support among other parties to cobble together a government led by his conservative Popular Party.
Sanchez' declaration came after the small Compromis party floated a list of 30 proposals today to form a new government to rule in the 350-seat lower house of Parliament, and the Socialists said they could accept most of them.
The challenge in Spain for forming a government has come down to mathematical calculations on which party could win enough support in an election that saw the Popular Party come in first with 123 seats, the Socialists second with 90, the far-left Podemos party with 60, the business friendly Ciudadanos with 40 and a handful of smaller parties with the remaining 37 seats.
Sanchez had already struck a deal with Ciudadanos but in two votes last month was unable to convince Podemos and Compromis, which together have sway over 69 seats, to join them.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said his group backed the last minute Compromis plan but that the Socialists' refusal to enter into a coalition of leftist forces excluding Ciudadanos meant the deal had little chance of success.
Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera rejected the proposal outright and also predicted the country was headed for another election.
