Spain's Socialists maintain opposition to PM Rajoy in confidence vote

Spain's acting Prime Minister and People's Party (PP) leader Mariano Rajoy reacts as he presides over an executive committee meeting at the party headquarters in Madrid, Spain, August 17, 2016. REUTERS/Javier Barbancho

MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Spain's Socialists, Pedro Sanchez, said on Wednesday his party would maintain its opposition to acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a vote to invest him for another term. Rajoy got the green light on Wednesday from his conservative People's Party (PP) to negotiate with centrist rival Ciudadanos to try to secure their support to form a government. But without the Socialists, Spain's second largest party which have repeatedly said they would veto a PP-led government, Rajoy would still be seven seats shy of a parliamentary majority. "We don't know the date of the investiture vote, we don't even know if Rajoy is going to stand in the vote," Sanchez told a news conference. (Reporting by Angus Berwick, editing by Axel Bugge)