Madrid, 31 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Spanish political leaders have made little progress toward forming a new viable coalition government in the week since early parliamentary elections.

The election results left Socialist Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez's government weakened - but left opposition conservatives well short of the majority needed to form a government.

Sánchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) rejected opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo's proposal to hold a meeting before the constituent session of the new parliament on August 17, state TV channel RTVE reported.

Feijóo said immediate talks are needed to avoid "instability" and avoid a "blockade" and the "ungovernability" of Spain.

Feijóo's conservative People's Party (PP) gained the most seats in the July 23 election but have virtually no prospects of forming a governing majority.

Feijóo has called on the PSOE to tolerate a conservative PP-led minority government, noting again on Sunday that the winners of Spanish elections have traditionally formed the government.

Sánchez has so far rejected that demand, replying in a letter that parliamentary democracy is a matter of forming coalitions, according to RTVE.

But Sánchez's PSOE also remain far from cobbling together a viable coalition. Sánchez's current left-wing and regional coalition would also need an agreement with the Junts party led by Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Brussels.

Junts has already made clear that it would demand an independence referendum as part of its support, something that Sánchez will likely reject.

In the letter to Feijóo, Sánchez said he would not negotiate with other party leaders until after August 17, according to RTVE.

If no government is formed, Spain, which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, faces a new vote at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.

Photo: EPA