Polls Open in Spain’s General Election

MADRID (Sputnik) — About 36.5 million Spaniards are eligible to vote, 1.9 million of them live abroad. Some 22,900 polling stations opened in total across Spain and in Spanish embassies abroad.

During the last parliamentary elections, the People’s Party led by current country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy received the support of over 44.5 percent of the electorate and obtained 186 seats in Parliament, which constituted an absolute majority.

According to polls, Sunday's election may put an end to the two-party system that existed for more than three decades.

This year, polls forecast the ruling party a weaker support among the voters, but the party is still in the lead. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, its traditional rival, goes second in terms of support, while the left-wing Podemos could finish third, according to the most recent GESOP poll.

Another party, the Ciudadanos (translated as Citizens) center-left movement is expected to take the fourth place. The Spanish United Left-Popular Unity coalition, openly opposing the country's membership in NATO, is expected to come fifth.