Pedro Sánchez is Spain's New Prime Minister

Spanish parliament approved Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez as prime minister, according to BTA news agency.

Sánchez's nomination received 167 votes in favour of the 350-member Congress. 165 members of the lower house of parliament voted against and 18 abstained.

Sánchez will now head the first coalition government since the days of the Second Republic (1931-1939). The vote will allow the Socialist leader to form a government alongside the left-wing coalition "Unidas Podemos".

In an earlier vote Sunday, Sánchez failed to secure the absolute majority of 176 votes to be approved as prime minister. A simple majority was enough for today's vote.

Crucial to endorsing Sánchez's candidacy was the agreement he reached last week with the largest Catalan separatist party - the Republican Left of Catalonia- that promised its deputies to abstain.