Spain’s Pedro Sánchez beat the odds to stay prime minister. Now he must keep his government in power

By JOSEPH WILSON and CIARÁN GILES
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has pulled off his latest feat of political survival to get reelected as prime minister by a highly fragmented parliament. Now, he will have to use all his dexterity to keep a mixed bag of supporters happy and his government in power for the next four years. To win the endorsement of a majority of lawmakers on Thursday, he clinched deals with six small parties. They included two Catalan separatist groups that demanded amnesty for hundreds of people in legal trouble over the Catalonia region’s failed secession attempt in 2017. While political observers agree Sánchez has a hard road ahead, they are unwilling to start writing his political obituary yet.