News / EU

Spain holding snap elections

Sunday, 10 November 2019 9:02 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 10 November 2019 9:51 AM ]

A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Madrid during general elections on November 10, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

People in Spain are voting in snap general elections, the fourth such vote in as many years, as voters remain deeply divided between rival groups.

Voting began on Sunday in a race between five main contenders, namely Pedro Sanchez of the Socialists Workers’ Party (PSOE), Pablo Casado of the Popular Party (PP), far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, and Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera.

After winning the last election in April, PSOE struggled to form a coalition government with the leftist Podemos Party, resulting in a miss of the September deadline to form a new government.

PressTV-Spain PM calls snap election amid Catalan crisis

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday called a snap national election for April 28.

Opinion polls show the 47-year-old Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will be the winner of the elections again.

However, once again, he will fail to garner the majority of the seats needed to form a stable government, according to the polls.

“There are only two options: either vote for the Socialists so that we have a government, or vote for any other party to block Spain from getting a progressive government,” Sanchez told voters before the elections.

Meanwhile, the Catalan independence movement has overshadowed the Spanish elections.