Governing conservative party in Spain won the most seats in the general election but has fallen short of a majority. With almost all votes counted, the Popular Party was on 28.7 per cent; the Socialists on 22 per cent and anti-austerity Podemos 20.6 per cent. The liberal Ciudadanos party had 13.8 per cent of the vote. Podemos and Ciudadanos fielded national candidates for the first time.
The Popular Party and the Socialists have alternated running the government for more than three decades. The results gave Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party 122 seats in the lower house of Parliament, well below the 176 seats it would need for a majority. It had 186 seats in the outgoing parliament.