Global Courant
MADRID
Spain’s voters finished casting their votes Sunday to determine the country’s next national government, under the scorching summer sun.
With the polls closed, the counting began. Final results will be available around midnight (2200GMT) Spanish time.
Although Spain is no longer conducting exit polls, new poll data was released as the voting ended on Sunday evening.
In line with previous expectations, both new polls show the conservative People’s Party will emerge as the party with the most votes.
The GAD3 poll also shows that the right-wing bloc, along with the far-right party Vox, will have enough seats to win a majority. But the other main poll, published by Sigma Dos for Spain’s public broadcaster, shows that the left bloc has a chance to stay in power for another term.
Spain is currently led by a left-wing coalition government with prime minister Pedro Sanchez at the helm.
After being battered by a right-wing wave in May’s local elections, there are widespread predictions that Sanchez will slip out of power. But after voting in Madrid on Sunday, he told reporters “they have good vibes” and urged Spaniards to vote because it’s “a very important moment for our country and our democracy”.
If conservative forces oust Sanchez, this will likely include the presence of the far-right party Vox in the Spanish government. Although Vox left the People’s Party, not long after the death of fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, there was no overtly far-right party in Spain’s central government.
As of 18:00 (1600GMT) Spanish time, voter turnout was 53.12% – almost four percentage points below the level in the last national elections in 2019. But that’s not counting the nearly 2.5 million mailed votes, which hit a record high as many Spaniards enjoyed their summer vacation this weekend and were unable to vote in person.
It is not yet clear how the summer holidays will affect the final result. The lowest drop in turnout was in Catalonia, where turnout was nine percent below the 2019 level, two hours before the polls closed.
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