Spaniards began voting on Sunday in a potentially close-run general election that could see Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's governing Socialists lose power and a far-right party make up part of a new government for the first time in 50 years.
Voting opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GM T) and will close at 8pm (1800 GMT), when exit polls will be released. The final result is expected to be decided by fewer than a million votes and fewer than 10 seats in the 350-seat parliament, experts say.
Sanchez called the election early after the left took a drubbing in local elections in May, but his gamble to wrong-foot his opponents could backfire.
Opinion polls show the election will likely produce a win for Alberto Nunez Feijoo's centre-right People's Party, but to form a government it will need to partner with Santiago Abascal's far-right Vox.
Crisis management
Many Spaniards are furious at being called out to vote at the height of the sweltering summer when they are on vacation.
The postal service reported on Saturday that postal votes had set an all-time record of 2.47 million, as many people choose to cast their ballot from the beach or mountains.
"The status quo scenario and a hung parliament are still a real possibility, likely with 50% combined odds in our view," Barclays wrote in a recent note to clients, citing the thin margin in PP's favour and overall uncertainty regarding polling and voter turnout.
Sanchez, in office since 2018, has seen his term as prime minister marked by crisis management - from the COVID pandemic and its economic effects to the politically disruptive consequences of the failed 2017 independence bid in Catalonia.
Uncertainty from the elections could dent Madrid's effectiveness as the current host of the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union Council as well as its spending of EU COVID recovery funds.
Cambodia polls
Meanwhile, polls have closed in Cambodia's national elections with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) expected to rake in a landslide victory.
The national voting, which critics see as the least free and fair in decades, started at 7 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT) and closed 3 p.m. (0800 GMT).
According to the National Election Commission, there were more than 9.7 million eligible voters nationwide. Elephants have been used to distribute election materials in remote areas of the country.
The incumbent premier cast his ballot in Kandal province’s Takhmao town, just outside the capital. “I’ve cast my vote,” he tweeted.
Aside from the long-ruling CPP, some 17 small parties are also running in the elections, however, none of Hun Sen's opponents is posing a serious challenge to his decades-long leadership.
The CPP is expected to sweep all 125 seats in the parliament to rule the Pacific nation of 16 million people for yet another five-year term.
The only credible challenger – the Candlelight Party – was disqualified from participating in the elections on technical g rounds in May, a move blasted by the opposition.
The former Khmer Rouge guerrilla, 70, has led Cambodia for 38 years. He is expected to hand the premiership to his oldest son, Hun Manet, who heads the country's army.
