SPAIN VOTES IN MOST OPEN-ENDED POLLS IN DECADES
MADRID— Voting started on Sunday in Spain’s most divisive and open-ended elections in decades with all eyes on whether the far-right could return to parliament since the 1980s and unseat the socialist prime minister.
At least five parties from across the political spectrum have a chance of being in government but opinion polls suggest no single party would be able to get a majority in parliament.
‘The Spain wewant’
“After many years of instability and uncertainty, it’s important that today we send a clear, defined message about the Spain we want,” said outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose Socialist Party was believed to have been leading the race.
“From there, a broad parliamentary majority must be built that can support a stable government,” Sanchez told reporters after voting in a polling station near Madrid.
It was uncertain if Sanchez would manage to stay in office and how many allies he would need to form a coalition government but he may have to approach the far-left Podemos and other small parties as well as Catalan separatists.
Opinion polls, which ended on Monday, have suggested it would be harder for a rightwing split among the centerright Ciudadanos, conservative People’s Party (PP) and farright Vox.
Voting in Barcelona, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera renewed calls to oust Sanchez, whose more conciliatory tone toward Catalan separatists had angered the right.
Memories of Franco
With the trauma of military dictatorship under Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, still fresh in the memory for its older generation, Spain had long been seen as resistant to the wave of nationalist, populist parties spreading across much of Europe. Some voters still stood by this.
“I’m more of a Ciudadanos or PP voter but I’m so scared of Vox that I voted for the left-wing bloc, for the Socialists,” said 27year-old Julio Cesar Galdon.
But this time, Vox will get seats, boosted by voter discontent with traditional parties, its anger at Catalonian separatists and nonmainstream views that include opposing a law on gender violence it says discriminates against men.
The high number of undecided voters—in some surveys as many as four in ten—has also complicated the task of predicting the outcome, as have the intricacies of a complex electoral system to elect 350 deputies and 266 senators.