According to the latest polls, new political players, such as the Left-wing Podemos party, may transform Spain’s two-party system as the ruling center-right People’s Party (PP) and its traditional rival Socialist Party (PSOE) may not be able to gain a combined 50 percent of the votes.
Voting takes place in 8,122 municipalities, as well as in most autonomous regions – Asturias, Cantabria, Navarre, Castile and Leon, La Rioja, the community of Valencia, the Community of Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Aragon and Extremadura, as well as two autonomous cities — Ceuta and Melilla.
In Catalonia, the local parliament election will be held in September, but Barcelona’s parliament will be elected on Sunday.
In Madrid, the Ahora Madrid social movement, headed by lawyer Manuela Carmena and supported by a number of left-wing movements, including Podemos, according to the polls, is very close to the PP, led by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The gap between two rivals is less than 2 percent of votes.
In Barcelona, public movement Barcelona en Comu, headed by social activist Ada Colau, is predicted to win the election. The movement protests against economic crisis in the country and mortgages' debt hole.
Polling stations will close at 20.00 local time (18.00 GMT).
