MADRID: Parties from left and right dismissed a bid by Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to lead the country, suggesting a parliamentary vote later on Wednesday on the coalition he hopes to form will end in defeat. In December, Spain’s biggest election upset for decades plunged the country into political limbo as newcomers such as anti-austerity Podemos (‘We Can’) and liberal Ciudadanos (‘Citizens’) made big gains, leaving all parties well short of a majority. It also triggered bickering by leaders of all persuasions – including between natural allies on the left – that showed no sign of flagging as Sanchez prepared to put his plan to team up with Ciudadanos to a vote. “This is a fictitious, unreal candidature,” acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the center-right People’s Party (PP) told members of parliament, adding that the alliance, with just 130 seats behind it, did not have enough weight. Sanchez, whose Socialists were runners-up behind the PP in the Dec. 20 ballot, needs an absolute majority — equivalent to 176 votes — to be elected prime minister on Wednesday. Rajoy said the PP would vote against, calling the proposal a farce and a “piece of theatrics” aimed at making others carry the blame if Spain needed fresh elections. He also called it a threat to the country’s economic recovery, saying the program only contained measures to undo the reforms his government has made in the past four years. “You’re trying to make us believe that if Spain doesn’t have a government… it will be everyone else’s fault,” Rajoy said in his speech. Sanchez defended his bid to unblock the stalemate after Rajoy passed up the first opportunity to try to form a government. In an acrimonious exchange, Sanchez also described the acting premier, whose PP has been embroiled in corruption scandals, as “a blockage for the renewal” of his party. A lost vote on Wednesday would set the clock ticking on a two-month window for parties to try and negotiate a majority in parliament, beyond which a new national election would be called, probably in June. Prolonging the gridlock could start to impede an economic turnaround that still needs nurturing with reforms, notably to fix a dysfunctional labor market in which unemployment is above 20 percent. Sanchez has tried to woo Podemos to support his coalition, offering to deliver on some of the social measures both have sought to alleviate inequalities. But Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, whose party and Ciudadanos are poles apart economically, wants a pact with leftist forces only. “Your pact does not protect workers,” Iglesias said on Wednesday, confirming his party would vote against Sanchez but urging him to forge an alternative front, adding: “Write the future of Spain together with us.” If Sanchez fails on Wednesday, he would only need to secure the most votes in a second ballot on Friday. But that scenario is unlikely too as the PP and Podemos together command 192 seats. No candidate for prime minister has failed in both confidence votes since Spain returned to democracy in the mid-1970s.