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Regional election campaigns begin in Spain

Xinhua, September 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The campaigns for the elections of regional assemblies in Galicia and the Basque region in Spain officially began on Thursday midnight.

The elections will take place on Sept. 26 with the backdrop in Madrid which has seen Spain go for almost nine months without an effective central government and the door to a third general election within a year has been opened.

The political situation in Galicia seems much clearer than in Madrid with eve of campaign polls predicting that the Popular Party (PP) candidate Alberto Nunez Feijoo will win a third consecutive majority in the predominantly rural and conservative area.

A poll conducted by the Center for Sociological Studies (CIS) predicted the PP will win 41 seats in the 75-member regional assembly with En Marea (which is linked to the left-wing Podemos party) claiming between 15-17 seats and the Socialists (PSOE) 16, with the Galician Nationalist (BNG) claiming two and Ciudadanos maybe one.

The situation in the Basque region is less clear with the CIS poll predicting the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) to win 27 or 28 seats, followed by left wing Bildu with 16 and Podemos with 15 or 16 seats.

The PSOE would suffer heavy losses with their representation cut from 16 to eight seats, while the PP would also suffer losses from 10 down to eight seats. Endit