The Spanish Congress of Deputies approved a non-binding motion on Thursday urging Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to consider a confidence vote and to resign over mounting corruption investigations. The motion, tabled by the conservative Partido Popular (PP), passed with 178 votes in favour, 171 against and one abstention, after the Catalan separatist party Junts broke with the government to support the initiative alongside the far-right Vox. The vote carries no legal force—only the prime minister can call a confidence vote or dissolve parliament—but it marks a symbolic blow to Sánchez’s authority.

According to the PP, the accumulation of judicial probes into figures appointed and sustained by Sánchez, including the recent 24-year prison sentence for former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, demands political accountability. Junts, whose seven votes were crucial to Sánchez’s 2023 investiture, justified its support by citing the government’s failure to deliver on commitments to Catalonia and the erosion of trust. The government, through Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, dismissed the motion as having “null political effect” and insisted Sánchez will complete his term. Sánchez himself told the chamber a day earlier that he would not resign.

The vote exposes the fragility of the parliamentary arithmetic that has sustained the minority coalition. With Junts now voting alongside the right, Sánchez’s legislative agenda faces paralysis, and the prospect of early elections—though not imminent—has moved closer in the calculations of Madrid-based analysts. The PP, however, has not tabled a constructive motion of no confidence, which would require an alternative candidate and a majority, because it lacks the necessary cross-party support. Within the PP, some voices question whether leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has the political weight to force a change, a debate that has simmered since last year’s inconclusive general election.

The motion also reproached the Congress Bureau, controlled by the Socialists and their left-wing Sumar allies, for blocking a previous attempt to debate early elections. That procedural dispute underscores the deepening institutional standoff. For now, Sánchez retains the constitutional prerogative to decide on a confidence vote or dissolution. The opposition’s immediate path is to maintain pressure through further parliamentary initiatives and public scrutiny of the corruption cases, while the government seeks to shore up support among remaining regional allies. The dossier remains open, with no legally mandated deadline for the prime minister to respond.