In an address to the Spanish parliament on Tuesday, Sanchez appealed for “a government of change and of dialogue”.
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Spain has been snarled in political deadlock since December’s ballot, with Rajoy having already failed to form a government before passing the baton to Sanchez a month ago.
Spanish lawmakers on Wednesday debated a bid by Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to form a new government which looks nearly certain to fail an evening parliamentary vote.
Sanchez accepted the challenge of attempting to form the next government at the beginning of February after Acting Prime Minister Rajoy twice told King Felipe VI he did not have the support to win an investiture debate.
At the end of his 90 minute speech which was contained in 42 pages, he admitted that even he thought it highly unlikely that anything positive would emerge from this week in Parliament as unless the Conservative PP abstained from voting and the more leftwing Podemos voted with him, he was realistic enough to realize that he could not form a working government.
Both Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP), in power since 2011, which came in first with 123 seats and new far-left party Podemos with its 65 seats, vowed Wednesday to vote against Sanchez.
Why don’t we get together and pass as many reforms as possible to solve the most urgent problems of Spaniards?
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias also said his side would not support Sanchez, accusing him of proposing policies similar to those enacted by the PP which benefit the rich.
First up was the leader of the party with the largest number of seats, Mariano Rajoy, who very succinctly said that his party would vote against the candidacy of Mr Sanchez as premier and that the whole attempt by PSOE to form a government was unreal.
The confidence vote is expected at around 9:00 pm (2000 GMT).
Sanchez has another chance Friday in a second round when he needs only more votes in favor than against, but there is little to indicate he will win that one either.
If he fails in both votes, Spain will be plunged into uncharted territory.
“His speech was disappointing; it tastes like more of the same thing”, said Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed leader of Podemos, in response to Sanchez’s opening discourse.
It would be the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975 that the candidate designated by the king did not get enough backing from parliament to form a government.
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The parliamentary session is a key step towards trying to unblock almost 11 weeks of political stalemate since inconclusive December elections resulted in a hung parliament divided among four main parties – none of which won enough seats to govern alone.
