MADRID: The leader of Spain`s conservatives stuck to his plan on Tuesday of getting enough support in parliament for a right-wing government following Sunday`s inconclusive election, even as such prospects looked dim after a Basque party refused to negotiate.

The centre-right Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) said on social media platform X formerly Twitter that its president had told People`s Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo the PNV would not hold any talks on bacl(ing his premiership bid.

The PP earned 136 seats in the 350-seat lower house, well short of the 176 lawmakers needed for an outright majority. Itwould only be able to form a government with the support of other parties, including far-right Vox, with which it has formed alliances in several regional administrations.

The anti-immigration, anti-feminist Vox party lost seats in Sunday`s vote, stavingoffthe prospect of a nationalist-backed government and pointing to limitations in the European far-right`s bid for the mainstream.

Polls had predicted a win for the centre-right PP with Vox as the likely kingmal(er but they failed to win a majority, leaving Catalan and Basque proindependence parties holding the balance of power in a hung parliament.-Reuters