MADRID -- Spain's Socialist party voted Sunday to stop blocking the conservative Popular Party from forming a minority government, setting the stage to end the country's nearly 10-month political impasse.
Members of the Socialists' federal committee announced after a meeting that they would abstain from voting against acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy during a confidence vote in the nation's parliament.
The committee voted 139 to 96 in favor of the abstention, a decision that should prevent a third election.
Two inconclusive elections since December have left Rajoy in charge of a caretaker government. His Popular Party won both elections, but not enough seats to form a majority in the parliament.
Rajoy has the support of 170 lawmakers in the 350-seat national parliament -- 137 of them from his own party -- but he needs other parties' votes or abstentions if he is to form a government.
He needs just 11 abstentions from the socialists to reach the threshold that would allow him to do that.
Javier Fernandez, who took over as temporary Socialist leader after the weekend resignation of Pedro Sanchez, said on Sunday that the party would "show its total rejection for Popular Party policies" on the first vote by voting no during the confidence vote, but would abstain on the second tally, allowing Rajoy to govern.
Spain has been led for decades by either the conservatives or the socialists and has never had a coalition government.
The Socialist party remained bitterly divided on the issue. Supporters of the abstention claimed a third election could be disastrous for the party, which suffered its worst-ever results in an election in June.
Detractors of the abstention said the decision would further alienate the party's supporters.
Scores of protesters defied constant rains Sunday to gather outside the party's headquarters, saying they felt betrayed by the federal committee's decision.
Miquel Iceta, the leader of the party's Catalan faction, has said its seven deputies will vote against Rajoy despite the committee's plans.
The newcomer, leftist Podemos party has said it hopes to profit from the Socialists' surrender to become the leading opposition party.
A Section on 10/24/2016