Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s socialist PSOE party would come out as the winner with 30.6%, ahead of centre-right rival Partido Popular if elections were held today though the race between the two is getting increasingly close, a fresh poll from Wednesday has found.
The fresh poll was conducted by state-owned Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS).
PSOE, for its part, saw a significant drop in 2.1 points of voting intentions compared with Partido Popular (PP).
Its current coalition partner, left-wing Unidas Podemos, however, saw a slight increase in the polls, with 12.4%.
The same goes for far-right party VOX, which saw a slight increase compared to CIS’ November poll, and is now polling at 10.2%, and centre-liberal Ciudadanos which went from 2.5% to 2.9% over the same period, according to the fresh poll.
When asked who they would vote for if elections were held today, 22.1% responded “the socialists”, while 21.9% said they would choose PP, meaning the gap between parties is even tighter than before, El País reported.
Were parties to again form coalitions, a left-wing alliance between PSOE and Unidas Podemos – as is the current government – would receive 43% of the votes if elections were held today, while the likely right-wing coalition of PP, VOX and Ciudadanos would only obtain 41.7% if they were to band together, the study added.
Spain will hold its municipal elections next May, which many believe be the first litmus test for Sanchez’s governing coalition with Unidas Podemos.
After that, the parties will have to face the general election set for December next year, and the political row with Catalonia is one of the ‘hot potatoes’ in the Iberian political arena.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
