Spain’s caretaker socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has narrowly won a confidence vote in parliament, enabling him to govern in coalition with far-left Podemos.

The dramatic open vote, by a simple majority of MPs, went 167 to 165 in his favour. Abstentions by Catalan and Basque MPs played a critical role.

He will now form a minority government.

It will be Spain’s first coalition government since democracy was restored in 1978, after the Franco dictatorship.

Mr Sánchez plans to hold his inaugural cabinet meeting on Friday.