Voting begins in Spain with PM in contest

Bloomberg

Spanish voters deliver their verdict on Sunday on whether Socialist PM Pedro Sanchez should form a new government after the collapse of his administration less than a year after he took power.
Turnout by Sunday afternoon was higher than in the 2016 general election, with 41 percent of the 37 million eligible voters casting ballots for the 350 seats in Congress and 208 in the Senate. Left-wing parties are seen as the biggest beneficiaries of a high turnout.
In Catalonia, where a breakaway effort failed, turnout soared to 43 percent from 32 percent in 2016.
Polls were expected to close at 8 pm local time, and the government was expected to release preliminary results at 10.30 pm.
With the years of financial crisis consigned to the past, voters are being asked to decide how they want to take the country forward. Sanchez is offering measures to help more Spaniards share the benefits of growth and conciliation with the separatists who tried to take Catalonia out of Spain 18 months ago.
His main challenger, Pablo Casado of the People’s Party, wants to inject another dose of stimulus to the economy with widespread tax cuts and is pushing for a more severe crackdown on the separatists.
Recent polls show Sanchez has pulled ahead, but the surveys have been wrong in the past and a polarised political landscape has broken the two-party system. For the first time, Spain has five significant parties to watch — two of them with a populist origin story that feeds off anger at Catalan separatists.
The likeliest outcome from the election would be Sanchez reaching the 176 seats needed for a parliamentary majority with his left-wing ally Podemos, and without relying on the Catalan separatists who helped him take power last year.
The prospect of Sanchez building a secure governing pact might bring reassurance to investors, who have had to get used to a splintered political landscape in Spain before.