Spanish voters go to polls for general elections
Monica Lopez and her husband carry beach chairs as they cast their votes during a general snap election at a polling station in Barcelona, Spain, July 23.
Voters went to the polls in Spain on Sunday for a snap general election, and 37.4 million Spaniards have the right to vote.
The snap election was called by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez following the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party's (PSOE) disappointing display in the local and regional elections held at the end of May.
Polls opened at 9am local time and will remain open until 8pm local time.
The latest opinion polls gave a slim margin of victory to the right-wing People's Party (PP) who could possibly form a coalition government with the far-right Vox party.
In his speech at the PSOE's end of campaign rally on Friday, Sanchez said the party was "coming back" into the race, stressing the possibility of victory to allow the PSOE to continue its progressive policies together with the left-wing Sumar coalition.
Sanchez cast his vote in Madrid, less than 10 minutes after the polls opened and made a call for "all I can do is ask the biggest possible mobilization of voters, to give Spain a strong government that can continue to advance."
"The general elections are not only important for us, but also for the world and Europe," said Sanchez.
The election is also special as it is the first to be held in the middle of the summer holiday season, and this has led to over 2.6 million people to request a postal vote, with post offices working seven days a week and staying open until 10pm in order to process the requests.
Meanwhile, the hot weather predicted for Sunday with temperatures expected to reach 36 degrees Celsius in Madrid, has seen leaders appeal for voters to vote early to avoid the worst of the heat.
