Madrid, Dec 11 (AFP/APP): Spain’s King Felipe VI on Wednesday tasked acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez with forming a new government even though he lacks support from other parties to form a workable majority in parliament. After meeting party representatives at the royal palace since Tuesday, as is the norm after an election, the king had formally asked the Socialist leader to attempt to form a government with enough backing the assembly to govern, the Spanish parliament’s speaker, Meritxell Batet, told reporters. “It is a task which I assume with honour, with responsibility,” Sanchez told a news conference. His Socialists won 120 seats in the 350-seat parliament — three fewer than it won in April — in a repeat general election on November 10 that saw far-right party Vox surge to third place. Two days after the election, the Socialists signed an agreement with the hard-left party Podemos, which won 35 seats, to form a coalition government in what would be the first such power-sharing deal in Spain’s modern history. But to achieve an absolute majority of 176 seats required to win a confidence vote and be sworn in for another term, Sanchez still needs the support of several smaller … Continue reading Spanish king asks Sanchez to form new government