Spain Election: Voting Begins In Polls That Could See Socialists Lose Power To Conservative, Far-Right Parties

Sanchez called the election early after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party took a severe beating in local and regional elections in May.

New Delhi: Polling began on Sunday in Spain in a general election that could see Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's governing Socialists lose power and a far-right party make up part of a new government for the first time in 50 years, according to news agency Reuters.

The polling stations opened at 9 am (0700 GMT) and will close at 8 pm (1800 GMT) (9 pm in the Canary Islands) when voter surveys conducted via phone calls over the past week will be released.

Sanchez called the election early after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party took a severe beating in local and regional elections in May, but his gamble to wrong-foot his opponents could backfire.

According to the opinion polls, the election will likely produce a win for Alberto Nunez Feijoo's centre-right People's Party, but to form a government it will need to partner with Santiago Abascal's far-right Vox. This would be the first time a far-right party entered government since Francisco Franco's dictatorship ended in the 1970s, reported Reuters.

If such a coalition is formed, it would mark the return of a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country's transition to democracy in the late 1970s, following the nearly 40-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco.

As per the agency, the final result is expected to be decided by fewer than a million votes and fewer than 10 seats in the 350-seat parliament.

Postal workers arrived at polling stations with boxes of postal votes on Sunday. The postal service reported on Saturday that postal votes had set an all-time record of 2.47 million, as many people choose to cast their ballot from the beach or mountains.

The government said 100% of polling stations were functioning normally 90 minutes after polls opened.

"The status quo scenario and a hung parliament are still a real possibility, likely with 50% combined odds in our view," Barclays wrote in a recent note to clients, citing the thin margin in PP's favour and overall uncertainty regarding polling and voter turnout.

The prime minister's minority Socialist (PSOE) government is currently in coalition with far-left Unidas Podemos that is running in Sunday's election under the Sumar platform.