Madrid, Mar 23 (IANS): The Spanish Congress, or the lower chamber of Parliament, has rejected a censure motion against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez by the extreme right-wing Vox party.

The 52 Vox representatives in the Congress voted in favour, along with Pablo Cambronero, a former member of the centre-right Ciudadanos party, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, there were 201 votes against and 91 abstentions.

Members of Sanchez's coalition government, which is made up of his Socialist Party (PSOE) and the left-wing Unidas Podemos, voted against the motion.

Deputies from the right-wing People's Party (PP), the main opposition force in Spain, abstained from the vote. PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo did not attend the debate.

This is the second censure motion presented by Vox to be defeated during Sanchez's current mandate, and the fifth out of six to fail since the adaptation of the current Spanish Constitution in 1978.

The only successful censure motion was against former Prime Minister and PP leader, Mariano Rajoy in 2018.