Spain's prime minister has led a left-wing coalition government that promotes radical social policies. Photo: Anadolu. a general election that could bring a far-right party to power for the first time since Francisco Franco's death.
34.7 million Spaniards will face a tough choice between an incumbent left-wing coalition or a new right-wing alliance, as neither Mr. Sanchez's PSOE nor the conservative Popular Party (PP) predicted an outright majority in parliament of 350 seats.
Latest polls ahead of Sunday's vote showed PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo to win, but he needs the support of far-right Vox who reject abortion and transgender rights, attack the PSOE's domestic violence policy and deny climate change.
«I don't mean to say I'm optimistic, but I'm in a good mood,» Mr. Sanchez said in Madrid after leaving a polling station at a school in Madrid to the whistle and whistle of his critics and cries of «president» from his supporters.
The prime minister, who took office in 2018, took advantage of the threat of what he says would be a «step back for Spain» by the PP-Vox alliance to try to mobilize left-wing and moderate voters in a deeply polarized and personal campaign.
He said today «will be very important for us, for the world and for Europe» as voters head to the polls in the eurozone's fourth-largest economy.
People line up to vote at a polling station in Badalona. Photo: AFP
Mr. Sanchez announced an early vote after losing local elections in May, which some saw as punishment for progressive policies, including on LGBT and women's rights, that his supporters fear the PP-Vox coalition will reverse.
This gamble may now backfire, but the left continues to believe in a comeback and hopes to form a government with Sumar, an alliance of leftist parties and Catalan and Basque separatists.
Experts say the final result is expected to be determined by fewer than a million votes and fewer than ten seats. A hung parliament is possible, and elections will have to be repeated in a few months if no party can assemble a working majority.
About one in five voters were undecided in the final polls in Spain's rare July elections. Most Spaniards are on holiday and 2.5 million mail-in votes were cast, a record for the country. The Postal Service has a team of 14,000 to handle Election Day.
It is not known what impact late July's scorching heat will have on voter turnout as polling stations are armed with thousands of fans and liters of water to cool voters in temperatures that are expected to average over 35 degrees Celsius and rise up to 10 degrees above normal in parts of Spain.
Mr. Feijoo, who has never lost an election in his native Galicia, has earned a reputation as a moderate. But his PP struck a string of coalition deals with Vox in local and regional government after the right-wing victory in May.
He hopes he can reach the magic number of 176 seats in the Spanish parliament and rule alone. The coalition with Vox is «not perfect,» he said in an interview on Friday, but declined to speculate further on the matter.
The last week of the campaign hasn't been a good one for the PP leader, who stumbled over pensions, boycotted final televised debates between candidates, and witnessed a resurgence of troubling questions about his ties to a now-convicted drug dealer in the 1990s.
“It would be a huge surprise if the PP didn't win. But whether it can form a government is another question,” said Pedro Riera Sagrera, a political scientist at the Carlos III University of Madrid.
Violently anti-migrant Vox emerged from a split in the NP in 2013. Its leader, Santiago Abascal, called the Sanchez government the worst in Spanish history, including Franco's dictatorship.
The nationalist prime ministers of Italy, Hungary and Poland called on Spanish voters to support Vox.
If Spain moves to the right, as Italy did last year, it would be a huge blow to Europe's left after the victories of the right in Sweden and Finland.
It will also raise concerns about new pan-European alliances between the centre-right and far right in Brussels and the further strengthening of the conservative majority in the European Parliament.
Polling stations in Spain will close at 20:00, at the same time exit polls are expected. The majority of votes will be counted by 22:30 local time.
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