The Prime Minister, the Socialist Pedro Sánchez, called early elections after the left took a beating in local elections in May, but many are furious at being called to vote in sweltering heat.
The Spanish postal service reported on Friday that the votes processed surpassed the record number of 2.4 million, as many people chose to vote from the beach or the mountains, instead of doing so from their warmer hometowns.
Polls show the election, which many candidates portray as a referendum on the future of Spain, is likely to win the center-right Popular Party, but to form a government it will have to partner with the far-right party Vox, marking the first time a far-right party has entered government since Francisco Franco’s dictatorship ended in the 1970s.
“The status quo scenario and a parliament without an outright majority remain a real possibility, probably with a 50% chance combined in our opinion,” Barclays wrote in a recent note to clients, citing the narrow margin in favor of the PP and general uncertainty about polling and voter turnout.
Sánchez’s minority government (PSOE), currently in coalition with the far-left Unidos Podemos and running in Sunday’s elections under the Sumar platform, has passed progressive laws on euthanasia, transgender rights, abortion and animal rights.
He has warned that these rights could be curtailed if Vox, an anti-feminist party focused on family values, is part of the next government.