Spaniards vote in historic election with new upstart parties

As voting closed at 7am (AEDT) on Monday, several exit polls (which in Spain are unreliable) predicted The People’s Party would win the most votes, followed by the Socialists, We Can and Citizens, with no clear ruling majority (50 per cent of votes) for any party.

The new anti-austerity Podemos party is predicted to come second ahead of the Socialists and the liberal Ciudadanos party.

Polls predict the right-of-center Popular Party will get the most votes but not enough to retain its parliamentary majority.

Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has won Spain’s general election but his People’s Party is short of a majority and needs allies to form a government.

The election caps a year of electoral change in southern Europe after Syriza was swept to power in Greece in January and a coalition of leftist parties in Portugal pooled their votes in parliament to unseat the conservative government after an inconclusive election in October.

“Spain is not going to be the same anymore and we are very happy”, said a jubilant Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed leader of Podemos.

Rajoy’s best chance would seem to be with Ciudadanos – due to their shared center-right, business-friendly politics – but the party has ruled out supporting Rajoy as prime minister, chiefly because of corruption cases in his party.

Seen as running out of steam just months ago, Podemos gained ground again thanks to Mr Iglesias’s down-to-earth appeal and his move away from the more radical, far-left ideals and rhetoric his party once espoused.

Rajoy also raised questions about his future as the Popular Party leader by including his deputy, 44-year-old Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, on campaign posters that would traditionally be reserved for him.

With many people saying they want to shake up a political system they consider corrupt and unable to resolve Spain’s economic woes, the outcome is the most uncertain in decades.

The 43-year-old former university economics professor wasn’t known by most Spaniards until his election last year to lead the Socialists, who were ousted as the ruling party in 2011 as the nation endured a prolonged economic slump.

Ciudadanos has the eloquent, media-savvy Albert Rivera as its leader. At 36, he is the youngest candidate, and his moderate, business-friendly policies plus a pledge to crack down on corruption have attracted voters.

“Today is an historic day for Spain…”

“For the first time, those of us who didn’t experience the first democratic transition are experiencing a second one”, Rivera said.