First data points to high but slightly lower turnout in Spanish election

The first data published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior points to a high turnout in the general elections which are being held this Sunday.

Data at 14:30 local time (1330 GMT) for the first five hours of voting shows that 11,908,985 (36.92 percent of the electorate) had cast their votes.

At the same time in the November 2011 general elections 12,990,129, 37.88 percent of the electorate had voted.

Sunday morning passed "without incident," according to the Ministry as the leaders of the main political parties cast their votes while making calls for as many voters to exercise their right to vote as possible.

Spaniards are called to vote for 350 deputies in the Spanish Congress and 208 members in the Senate.

The first results are expected at around 22:30, but Spanish TV will publish an extensive exit poll based on the results of interviews with over 100,000 voters almost as soon as the polling stations close. Endit