MADRID, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- If the election were held today, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would win with 34.2 percent of the vote, according to an opinion poll published here on Thursday.
The results, published by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), came just over a week after it was confirmed that Spain would hold its second general election of the year on Nov. 10, although the poll itself was conducted before the breakdown of negotiations between the PSOE and the left-wing Unidos Podemos party, which has led to the dissolution of parliament.
Another factor that had not been covered in the poll was the recent announcement that the new Mas Pais (More Country) party led by Inigo Erejon (one of the co-founders of Unidos Podemos) will also present candidates on Nov. 10 and could possibly lure away supporters from PSOE and Unidos Podemos.
Nevertheless, the poll result will likely be welcome by Sanchez, as support for his party has considerably increased over the 28.7 percent of the vote with which the Socialists won in the April 28 general election.
It is also relatively good news for Unidos Podemos, whose support stands at 15.5 percent, which is slightly up from the 14.3 percent polled in April, although it remains to be seen how much damage the failure of the two parties to reach an agreement over a coalition government will do them in the coming weeks.
Support for the right-wing block appears to have stagnated and although the People's Party (PP) would come second with 17.1 percent if the election were held today. Back on April 28, the PP received 16.1 percent of the vote.
The center-right Ciudadanos party appears to be the big loser, with its support dropping from 15.9 percent in April to 12.9 percent today. Some of its supporters are apparently put off by the increasingly right-wing stance taken by the party's leader, Albert Rivera, and are switching their support to the PSOE.
Support for the extreme right-wing Vox party is also waning. The party is predicted to win 7.5 percent of the vote compared to 10.26 percent five months ago.
If these turn out to be the actual results on Nov. 10, the PSOE would substantially increase its number of seats from 123 but would still fall short of the 176 needed for an overall majority in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. Accordingly, party leader Sanchez would again have to negotiate a pact with other parties.
