Spain: Parties face tough talks after inconclusive election

“Spain needs security, stability, certainty and confidence, ” Rajoy said in an address delivered from the balcony of PP headquarters in Madrid.

With nearly all the votes counted, the PP had 123 seats, the Socialists 90 and the anti-austerity Podemos party won 69.

Women walk by a campaign poster with a photograph of Popular Party leader and current Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy and with a slogan reading in Spanish “Spain: Seriously”, in Madrid, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015.

“Spain wants the left”, Mr Sanchez said.

Prime Minster Mariano Rajoy’s PP is projected to win between 114 and 124 seats in the 350-member parliament, exit polls cited by Reuters show. He’s asking voters not to put the economic recovery at risk and has warned of the dangers of a pact between Podemos and the Socialists.

Pressure Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez (43) was already under pressure going into the election, but after his party’s worst result of the democratic era his position will be under even greater scrutiny.

“We have won the elections again… Our fight against corruption goes ahead”.

His party could look to Podemos and Ciudadanos t form a so-called “coalition of losers”. We have won over 20 percent of the vote and over 5,000,000 voters.

That points to long and hard talks as well as a potentially weak government as neither Podemos nor any of the other groups are in principle willing to enter into a Socialist-led administration. The remainder of the seats are held by regional parties, who will be crucial to the process of building a coalition government.

Spaniards are voting in the tightest election since the country’s return to democracy, with four parties in the running and no clear victor in sight. “The two-party system has ended”.

The party claimed it won more votes than any other party in Catalonia and the Basque region and came second in Madrid.

A poll for the state-owned RTVE channel gave Rajoy’s People’s Party 26.8 percent of the vote.

Anti-austerity Podemos party is seen winning between 70 to 80 seats, while center-right Ciudadanos are expected to take between 45 and 50 seats. Another upstart party, Ciudadanos, is far behind with 15.2 percent.

SPAIN was plunged into the political unknown last night as no one party emerged as the victor in its closest general election since the end of the Franco dictatorship 40 years ago.

Jorge Clemente, spokesman for pollster TNS Demoscopia, says its figures are based on 180,000 face-to-face interviews. Exit polls are expected minutes afterwards and complete results are due two days later.

Fairly complete results should be tallied by about 10:30 p.m. (2130 GMT).

The two party system that has dominated Spanish politics in recent decades is set to come to an end, with newcomers Cidudadanos, a centrist party, and left-wing Podemos rapidly gaining ground on the traditional parties. At 36, he was the youngest candidate, and his party featured moderate, business-friendly policies plus a pledge to crack down on corruption.

But by 3 p.m., the Interior Ministry said voter participation was slightly less than in the 2011 election. “A grand coalition between the PP and the opposition Socialists seems the best option, but I doubt that will happen”.

Rajoy and his party are seeking a second term after ousting the Socialists in a landslide in 2011. He added that people have voted “for the left and for change”.