Spain's governing party risks power in snap poll

Voters in Spain went to the polls in a general election on Sunday that could bring a shift in power from Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's governing socialists, with a far-right party potentially forming part of a new government.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) leader, who has served as the prime minister since 2018, called the vote after a poor performance in May's regional and municipal elections.

It puts Sanchez in danger of losing his position, possibly replaced by a new right-wing government under the stewardship of Alberto Nunez Feijoo from the center-right Partido Popular party (PP).

The election outcome would be dependent on whether Feijoo or Sanchez can secure sufficient backing from minor parties to establish a coalition government, said Reuters news agency.

The current prime minister leads the minority socialist government in an alliance with the far-left Unidas Podemos, which participated in Sunday's election under the Sumar platform.

The first exit polls were set to be revealed at 8 pm local time on Sunday, with a comprehensive understanding of the country's voting patterns predicted to emerge around midnight.

No general election in Spanish history has ever taken place this deep into the summer, where temperatures are soaring beyond 40 C, said the BBC. Despite the sweltering heat, voter turnout was on course to be more than 37 million from a population of 48 million, said local media reports on Sunday afternoon.

Pre-election forecasts predicted the result could give the far right a position in the government, which would be a development unseen since the era of General Francisco Franco's leadership in the 1970s, reported Reuters.

Polls last week showed Feijoo's PP could do well in voting, but would likely be forced into a coalition with the far right Vox party, which is led by Santiago Abascal. The Vox party has established itself with a mix of anti-immigration, anti-feminist and anti-carbon reduction policies, according to media reports.

The possibility of such a coalition would cause unease in Brussels due to the potential implications it could have on the future course of the European Union and its institutions, reported The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

It said a rightward shift in Europe is becoming evident, given conservative triumphs in countries like Greece, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, and now likely Spain and Poland before the year concludes.

Spain's election has been bitterly contested, with media reports noting that Sanchez has attempted to frame the contest as a face-off between progressive elements and reactionary conservatism, insisting that only the PSOE, together with its allies, can achieve and safeguard a progressive agenda.

"There's something that's far more dangerous than Vox, and that's having a PP that assumes the policies and postures of Vox," Sanchez said in a recent interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper. "And that's what we're seeing: a denialism when it comes to social, political and scientific consensus."

The PP last governed between 2011 and 2018. In an interview with Spain's conservative newspaper ABC on Friday, Feijoo said: "First and foremost, the PP represents indispensable, vital political change in Spain."