Spain's conservative PP party lead narrows one month ahead of national election -poll

[June 26, 2023]  MADRID (Reuters) - The lead of Spain's conservative People's Party over the left-wing ruling coalition has narrowed one month ahead of a national election on July 23, a poll by El Mundo newspaper said on Monday.   

Spain's opposition and People's Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, and the Mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, wave to supporters during a rally at Retiro park ahead of elections in Madrid, Spain, June 18, 2023. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo

The survey, carried out between June 16 and 23, showed the PP would get 140 seats in the 350-member lower house, down from 141 a week earlier. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) would get 102 seats and Sumar, the far-left grouping replacing Podemos, would get 35 seats up from 30 a week earlier, pollster Sigma-Dos said.

The poll, commissioned by El Mundo newspaper, showed far-right party Vox, the PP's likeliest post-election ally, would get 35 seats, down from 36 a week earlier, Sigma-Dos said.

A likely coalition between Vox and PP would be one seat short of the 176 outright majority. Prior polls gave the two parties an outright majority.

The remaining seats would go to small regionalist parties.

Sanchez on May 29 called a surprise snap election after his party and its junior coalition partner Podemos were routed in regional and municipal ballots. Sanchez said he would lead his party and seek to remain prime minister.

With the prospect that neither of the two main parties will secure an outright majority, the election is shaping up to be an idealogical tussle between those opposed to a government that would include the far-right Vox and those who oppose the current minority coalition that includes the far-left Podemos.

Following the May municipal and regional elections, local negotiations between PP and Vox resulted in bickering in some cases.

After those elections, Podemos allied with other far-left groups into a new party called Sumar led by Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz earlier this month.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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