Sánchez sworn in as president

The PSOE's (socialists') coalition partners, leftists Podemos, had struck a deal with Sánchez 24 hours after the elections on November 10 – despite these elections having been held as a result of the two parties' failing to reach an agreement after Spain went to the polls in April – and will now form an active part of the new government, including running ministries.

Full details of appointments will be revealed over the next few days.

Podemos' leader, Pablo Iglesias, burst into tears of relief and joy when Sánchez made it through the second round of Parliamentary voting with 167 in favour and 165 against.

In the first round, Sánchez needed an outright majority of MPs to vote in his favour – 176 out of 350 – which, until four or five years ago, was normally straightforward as one of the two main parties would always achieve a majority of seats in a general election.

Nowadays, with more parties on the scene, a hung Parliament is normally guaranteed, meaning the presidential candidate has to negotiate with all the opposition outfits to convince them to vote in his favour.

If – as was the case with Sánchez on Sunday – the first round failed to provide a majority in his support, the candidate goes through to a second round 48 hours later, in which he needs only a simple majority, or more 'yes' than 'no' votes.

Here, the key is convincing those MPs who do not support the candidate's presidential bid to abstain, so that the 'yes' total surpasses the 'no' total.

Today, 18 MPs – from the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC) and the Basque reunification party EH Bildu – abstained in accordance with their recent agreement following negotiations with the PSOE.

Votes in favour came from the PSOE's own 120 MPs and the 35 Podemos has, plus the two members of Podemos breakaway group Más País! who had won seats in the November elections.

Valencian regional party Compromís, centrist Nueva Canarias, provincial party Teruel Existe, and the Galicia national party BNG – each with one seat in Parliament – voted in favour of Sánchez, as did all six MPs from the Basque National Party (PNV).

Votes against came from the PSOE's direct rivals, the right-wing PP, with 88 MPs; centre-right Ciudadanos, with 10 MPs; far-right Vox, with 52; Catalunya separatists Junts Per Catalunya (JxCat) with eight; the Navarra-based coalition UPN, with two; pro-secession Catalunya-based outfit CUP, with two; the Asturian Forum (Foro Asturiano), with one; the Canarian Coalition, with one; and the Cantabria Regional Party's sole MP, despite his having pledged his support of Sánchez on the night of November 10.

The margin was extremely narrow, at 165 to 167, but enough to give Spain an elected left-wing government for the first time since November 2011, and for Sánchez to swear allegiance in the presence of the King.

Sánchez has in fact been in power, either de facto or in a caretaking position, since June 2018 after the PSOE's no-confidence vote against the then PP government prospered – but with the PSOE's holding just 86 seats in Parliament out of the total of 350, the smallest minority ever to lead the country, Sánchez and his cabinet found their hands tied.

When they were unable to secure enough support to pass their 2019 budget, Sánchez opted to call a general election to strengthen his mandate – especially in light of right-wing supporters' public outcry at having an 'unelected president'.

This election was held in April, but with the PSOE and Podemos unable to compromise sufficiently to reach a coalition deal or to persuade Podemos to vote in Sánchez's favour, the second round of the investiture failed and Sánchez was forced to call a repeat election.

Now, after four general elections in as many years, over eight months with a caretaking government, 10 months with an extreme minority government, and a period of nearly 12 months with the PP in a caretaking position – giving barely 18 months of four years with a stable leadership for Spain – the country finally has political stability and decisions can be made, budgets signed off, and electoral manifestos turned into reality.

As was the case when the PP was forced to call a second general election in summer 2016 following a fragmented result in November 2015, many parties which do not share the values of the current president and his cabinet opted to allow him to take over the reins of the country for the sake of stability.

This is the first time in Spain's democratic history that the country has been led by a coalition government with a deputy president, Pablo Iglesias.

As yet, Spain has never had a female president.