MADRID: Just days after a shock Brexit, Spaniards voted in repeat elections on Sunday to decide if they too want a radical shift as promised by a far-left coalition led by Podemos.
The election pits those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spain´s slow eco**mic recovery.
Britain´s shock vote to leave the European Union has further exacerbated this cleavage.
The outgoing conservative Popular Party (PP) is insisting on the need for "stability" in the face of "populism" -- a thinly-veiled dig at the Unidos Podemos coalition.
"What is important is that lots of people vote and that there is a government soon," Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena said after casting her ballot in a school in the Spanish capital, echoing general voter exasperation after months of political limbo. Voters have the choice between four major political groupings after the emergence of Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudada**s last year uprooted the country´s two-party dominance.