MADRID, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Voters will return to the polls in Spain on Sunday for the second general election in 2019 and the fourth since the end of 2015 in an attempt to end the political stalemate in the country.
The election was called after acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was unable to win sufficient support in the Spanish Congress of Deputies in July and September, when the coalition talks with the left-wing Unidos Podemos broke down.
Opinion polls conducted in the summer may have given the Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Sanchez confidence that his party would be able to improve considerably on the 28.7 percent of the vote and the 123 seats his party won in the April 28 general election, but following a brief campaign dominated by the images of violent street protests in the Catalan region of Spain over the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders, Sanchez now faces a formidable challenge.
The latest polls show that the center-left PSOE party has maintained its support, but the figures also indicate that several voters are switching their loyalty from the center-right Citizens (Ciudadanos) party to the right-wing Popular Party (PP) and the extreme right Vox, which promise to take a hard line against the separatist parties in Catalonia and also in the Basque regions of Spain.
Polls published on Nov. 4 (the last date polls are allowed before Sunday's election) showed that Vox is likely to increase its number of deputies in the country's 350-seat Congress from the 24 the party won in April to around 46, while the PP is set to improve on the 66 seats it claimed in its worst-ever general election performance six months ago to win 91 seats.
In contrast, Ciudadanos is predicted to see its support drop from a record 57 seats in the last election to just 14, while Unidos Podemos would see the 42 seats they won in April reduced to 31.
If these predictions are accurate, this Sunday's election would leave Spain in a situation very similar to that in April: none of the parties would come close to an overall majority, which means that the winner would have to enter into coalition talks with either the left-wing or the right-wing bloc.
Other factors could also come into play after the country's unemployment figures showed a sharp increase in October, and the European Union downgraded its 2019 and 2020 projections for Spain, delivering a further blow to Sanchez.
Turnout at the polls is also likely to be decisive: April saw 71.8 percent of Spaniards of voting age go to the polls and there is little doubt that benefited Sanchez. However, after four years of political instability Spaniards are tired of voting and many are frustrated at Sanchez's failure to form a coalition government after the April elections.
If that frustration leads to Socialist voters staying at home and a lower turnout, it will hurt the left more than the right, which means that although Sanchez and the PSOE are expected to "win" this Sunday, it could turn out to be a very hollow victory indeed.
