Voters in Spain will go to the polls Sunday in national elections in which no one party is expected to win a majority in parliament.
The race pits the incumbent Socialist Party against four others, including the new far-right Vox Party that is aligned with other far-right movements that have emerged across Europe.
Leaders on both the left and the center-right have urged voters to keep the far right at bay.
On Friday, incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, said he was open to the possibility of a coalition with the left-wing United We Can Party, raising the possibility of a center-left governing deal.
On the political right, the conservative Popular Party has splintered into three main groups, with Vox making inroads with the electorate. The third right-leaning group, Citizens, said it would join a governing coalition only with the Popular Party.
The Popular Party has alternated in office with the Socialist Party since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.
Lengthy bargaining
With no one party expected to win a majority Sunday, speculation has centered on which of Spain’s top five parties will join together after the vote to create a governing coalition. A close election could result in weeks of political bargaining that could include smaller parties favoring Catalan independence, a hugely polarizing topic in Spain.
Analysts warn of the possibility of a deadlocked parliament and a second election.
The latest surveys, published Monday, showed that a third of Spain’s nearly 37 million voters still had not decided whom they would vote for. Under Spanish law, no further surveys were allowed before the election.
The final El Pais survey predicted the Socialists would win about 30% of the vote, making them the front-runners to win the most seats in parliament.
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