Pedro Sánchez has won another four-year term as Spain’s prime minister after brokering a controversial deal with Catalan separatists that critics fear could cause a Jan 6 style riot.

After two days of ill-tempered debate in Spain’s lower-house Congress, 179 MPs approved Mr Sánchez’s ascension while 171 opposed it.

Mr Sánchez’s Left-wing coalition is being propped up by Basque and Catalan independence parties.

The Catalan party leveraged its support by negotiating a controversial amnesty that will lead to hundreds of politicians and activists involved in the 2017 illegal Catalan secession attempt being freed of criminal responsibility.

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-Right Vox party, warned that Spain would not accept the amnesty or what he called an “illegal” government before marching out of parliament on Wednesday to lead demonstrations against Mr Sánchez.

He accused Mr Sánchez of performing a coup d’état and raised the possibility of a revolt similar to the storming of the US Congress by supporters of Donald Trump in 2021.

“If the popular protest against your coup, which has been peaceful and exemplary up to now, were to become a violent revolt, how could we legitimately stop parliament being surrounded forcing us to row back on what had been passed?”

Mr Sánchez admitted that the result of July’s general election, in which his party came second, meant it was time to “make a virtue out of necessity” but said the amnesty would bring “concord between Spaniards”.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative Popular Party which won the election but without a majority, said Mr Sánchez’s victory was “based on fraud” as the Socialist leader said before July that he did not support an amnesty as it would not be constitutional.

“This is an exercise in political corruption. Taking decisions against the common interest in exchange for personal benefits is unspeakable.”

Mr Núñez Feijóo did, however, cross the floor of Congress to shake Mr Sánchez’s hand after the vote.