Spanish king rules out talks with party leaders amid political deadlock

Spanish King Felipe VI confirmed on Monday he will not be holding talks with leaders of the country's political parties for now to end the ongoing political deadlock, which has left Spain without an effective government for almost nine months.

The Spanish Royal Household issued a statement in the wake of acting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy's failure to win two investiture votes in the Spanish congress last week.

That failure set in motion a 60-day countdown towards the dissolution of congress. Unless Rajoy or someone else can form a government before the end of October, congress will be dissolved for the third time in less than 12 months and new elections will be called for on either December 25th or December 18th.

The statement asks the parties for "dialogue, collaboration and compromise" to break almost nine months' political deadlock.

However, although Felipe has previously held several rounds of talks with party leaders, he will not be attempting to mediate for the moment.

"In a constitutional regime such as ours, parliament is the place where debate and dialogue between political forces should take place and the issues of our national life decided," read the statement.

The statement came after Rajoy, who is attending the G20 Summit in China, said he will "persevere" in his attempts to win a mandate.

Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez held a press conference on Monday at his party headquarters in Madrid, during which he said he would "open a round of talks" with other party leaders.

Sanchez, who was unsuccessful in his attempts to win an investiture debate in March, refused to say whether he would again present his candidacy to be named prime minister in the wake of Rajoy's failure. Endit