Spain`s ruling conservatives win elections, Socialists second: partial results

The PP got 28.71 percent of the vote and 123 seats in the 350-seat lower house of Parliament, while the PSOE garnered 22.02 percent of the vote and 90 seats. “The system of taking turns in Spain is over”.

The country’s drab two-week campaign got a jolt Wednesday when a 17-year-old student punched the prime minister in the face during a campaign appearance in Rajoy’s hometown.

Rajoy and his party are seeking a second term after ousting the Socialists in a landslide in 2011.

Spain was heading for political uncertainty on Sunday night, after a general election that produced a deeply fragmented parliament with little chance of a stable government majority over the next four years. There’s also the possibility of a three-way alliance between the Socialists, Ciudadanos and Podemos.

Podemos was expected to pick up 70-80 seats and Ciudadanos could win 46-50 seats, according to the exit poll.

“It looks like a Socialist government”, said Federico Santi, a London-based analyst with the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy.

The presence of the liberal Ciudadanos and the leftist Podemos as contenders made this an historic election.

Catalans hope a new coalition government in Madrid will soften the hardline stance of the centre-right PP administration towards the region, leading to greater autonomy if falling short of full-blown independence.

Far left party Podemos came second with 21.7 percent, followed by the main opposition Socialist Party with 20.5 percent.

Sky-high unemployment, inequality, corruption and an ever-rising separatist drive in Catalonia were just some of the issues at stake in a country deeply scarred by a financial crisis and fed up with what many considered a staid political scene.

The election came in the midst of a strong economic recovery with growth projected to surpass three percent this year and falling unemployment.

The outcome was reminiscent of a similar situation in neighboring Portugal, where the incumbent conservatives won an October election but a socialist government backed by far left parties was ultimately sworn in.

As leader of the biggest party in Congress, Mr Rajoy will be asked by the king to form a government.

His administration has been hurt by his U-turn on a promise not to raise taxes and by cuts to national health care and public education.

The PP has also been damaged by corruption scandals.

Rajoy, 60, champions conservative social policies, siding with the Roman Catholic Church against abortion.

“Now we have… the old versus the new”, she says. “Today begins a new phase of hope and excitement”, said its leader, Albert Rivera.

Ciudadanoss goal is to “think about all Spaniards and not to divide them into bands, to renew the way politics is done, and to treat Spaniards like adults, ” Rivera said.

Spaniards go to the polls on Sunday in what is expected to be one of the most closely-fought contests in modern history, as two dynamic new parties take on the country’s long-established giants.