But a European politics expert has cautioned against reading too much into the results, suggesting voting patterns had been heavily influenced by the issue of Catalan independence and a desire to heal the wounds caused by last year’s unofficial independence referendum. Mr Sanchez, who was the country’s Prime Minister going into the election and continues in an acting capacity prior to striking a deal with coalition partners, is hoping to be in a position to form a new government by the middle of June. He will this week meeting with the Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera, respective leaders of the centre-right People’s Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (C), as well as Pablo Iglesias, the general secretary of left-wing party Podemos, all whom he will meet at his official La Moncloa residence.
Mr Abascal, whose far-right Vox took 24 of the 348 seat - the first time a far-right party has achieved significant success in a Spanish election since the death of infamous dictator General Franco - has not been invited to participate in the talks.
In what has been widely interpreted as a message to Ciudadanos, which won 57 seats, Mr Sanchez is reserving more time for discussions with Mr Rivera, whose party won 66 seats.
He will also be meeting with Mr Iglesias, who said: “We will wait to know the content of these meetings with Cs and PP, we hope that PSOE is not negotiating with the right wing.
“Then we will have full availability to negotiate a progressive
