MADRID, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Congress of Deputies (lower chamber of the parliament) on Saturday started the investiture debate aiming to end political uncertainty in the country.

According to local media, although Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez does not have the support to win an absolute majority of 176 votes in the 350-seat chamber in Sunday's first vote on his investiture, the decisions made this week by the Catalan and Basque parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Bildu to abstain in a second vote on January 7 are expected to allow Sanchez to claim a simple majority.

Sanchez's Socialist Party, which won 120 seats in the general election on Nov 10, last year, signed a "pre-agreement" last November with the left-wing Unidas Podemos which claimed 35 seats at the polls to form a coalition government in Spain.

Opening the debate on Saturday morning, Sanchez promised that "the main value of new government will be working for social justice... the defense of the people, freedom and cohesion and dialogue over the regions."

Sanchez also promised that his new government would increase spending on education. Enditem

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