Spain is feverishly awaiting the result of legislative elections on Sunday, scrutinized throughout Europe, whose great favorite is the right-wing opposition but which could also bring the far right to government for the first time since the end of Francoism.
Turnout, which had jumped 2.5 points at midday, was down sharply at 6 p.m. at 53.12% against 56.85% during the last legislative elections in 2019, voters having rather mobilized in the morning due to the heat.
However, this figure does not include the 2.47 million people, out of 37.5 million voters, who voted by post – a record number due to the fact that this election is taking place, for the first time, in the middle of summer. The polling stations closed at 8 p.m. but it took about an hour for the publication of the first partial results.
Given the winner in the polls, the leader of the People’s Party (PP, right) Alberto Núñez Feijóo said on Sunday that he hoped that Spain would “begin a new era”.
This election is “very important (…) for the world and for Europe”, estimated for his part the socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in power for five years.