Spain's Podemos urge Socialists to negotiate further, not call elections

The leader of Spain's far-left Podemos party, Pablo Iglesias, on Thursday, urged Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to keep negotiating with his party after talks collapsed, and not to lead the country to a repeat election.

A source in Podemos has said the party would abstain in a vote in parliament later on Thursday, meaning Sanchez won't get enough votes to be confirmed as prime minister.

It is now up to Sanchez to decide whether he wants to try and seek parliament's backing in further votes in September or head straight to an election. Iglesias made proposals to Sanchez during his speech, saying he was willing to give up on his demand that his party leads the labor ministry.