Early parliamentary elections began in Spain this morning. A total of 37.5 million Spaniards are called upon to elect 350 members of the House of Commons and part of the Senate. According to polls, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing minority government is at risk of defeat. Accordingly, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s conservative People’s Party (PP) could become the strongest force, but it is likely to miss the absolute majority of 176 seats. Feijóo would then have to rely on the right-wing populist Vox to form a government.
It is unclear whether voter turnout would suffer from bringing voting forward in the middle of the summer heat and holiday season. For Córdoba in Andalusia, the National Weather Service Aemet predicted up to 40 degrees, and the temperature in the capital Madrid could also climb to more than 35 degrees in the afternoon. A record 2.5 million people exercised their right to vote by mail. Sánchez had brought forward the election scheduled for later this year after his Socialist and left-wing parties suffered defeat in regional and local elections at the end of May.
Polling stations close at 8 p.m. Shortly thereafter, forecasts based on post-election polls, which are generally reliable, are published. Extrapolations based on the votes counted can only be expected later in the evening. On the Canaries further west, the election ends at 9:00 p.m. (CEST).
