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ahead in Spain's election - polls
Spanish election: Conservative party ahead in early polls but will need support of extreme right to form a government
Follow all our latest updates here on this hot July election.
Exit polls: PP party forecast to gain the most votes
A poll by Sigma Dos RTVE, Spanish TV channel estimates Spain's conservative People's Party will win between 145 and 150 seats. This would make the PP the party with the most votes - at 34.2%, alllowing the party to obtain a very tight absolute majority with the far-right Vox party.
In second position, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party has been forecast to garner 28.9% of votes, obtaining between 113-118 seats.
Exit polls put the Sumar party in third position, predicting it will obtain 13.3% of the vote and an estimate of 28-31 deputies in Congress.
Summary
- Polls closed at 2000CET in Spain's general election.
- Exit polls suggest the Conservative People's Party is ahead but will need the support of the right wing Vox Party to form a government
- Turnout is predicted to be down on the last general election with Spain enduring an extreme heatwave.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, were defeated in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been premier since 2018.
Vox party responds to exit polls
Ignacio Garriga, the Vox party's Secretary General declared "we are very satisfied with the electoral campaign that VOX has carried out. All this, despite the difficulties, the violent attacks and the media manipulation that we have suffered."
"Whatever the result, we are going to continue working."
Vox began barring certain media outlets from its headquarters and its events during the previous parliamentary elections in 2019. Since then, it has not only maintained - but also extended these vetoes.
Miguel González, a veteran reporter for El País newspaper told media watchdog Reporter Sans Frontieres “as we’re not accredited, we cannot access the press areas to work and take good photos.”
“Their spokespersons don't answer any questions, and when they do, it’s often to insult us.”
Following exit poll results, Cuma Gamarra, Secretary General of Spain's conservative Populist Party declared "this is going to be a great electoral day because the PP is going to recover the position of first political force in a general election."
"The last time this happened was in 2015. In addition, our candidate, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is the only one that appears in all the constituencies that have improved results."
The PP's tweet states: "🔵 We Spaniards have been asked who we want to be our next president and the majority answer has been
@NunezFeijoo.
It is the first time in 27 years that a Prime Minister running for re-election has lost the elections.”
Today's snap election was called by Prime Minister Sanchez two months ago. The decision followed the sucess of the conservatives in local and regional elections which took place in May.
Although the decision caught many Spaniards by surprise, this strategy is not new. Back in 2019 Sanchez - who had only been governing for a few months - called for a general election which proved successful.
Spain's conservative People's Party has been forecast to gain 34.2% of votes - the highest percentage of the voteshare.
Falling short of a majority, many believe the party will form a coalition with Spain's far-right Vox party. However, party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has kept his coalition intention vagues. Describing the PP as "a centre-right reformist party", he admitted on Friday that a coalition government with Vox "is not ideal".
A shift from 2019 election results
According to surveys, Spain's far-right party Vox is set to lose up to half of the votes it gained in the 2019 elections. Four years ago, Spain's Vox party made big gains, winning 52 seats.
Pedro Sanchez's Populist Party came out on top in 2019 - winning the highest 120 seats - the highest number.
Spain's EU Council presidency
Spain took over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council back in July. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had hoped to use to showcase advances made by his government. An election defeat for Sánchez could see the PP taking over the EU presidency reins.
Despite the uncertainty created by the snap general, Spanish officials insist the presidency will not be disrupted and run as planned.
Three other exit polls carried out over the last few days concluded that the PP would take the win - but without an absolute majority. Their publication was however banned according to AFP.
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