Spain's Shift to the Right Likely as Country Goes to the Polls

Elections in Spain are underway Sunday (July 23), and opinion polls show a swing to the right and the deposition of the left-wing coalition government of prime minister Pedro Sanchez Pérez-Castejón of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (SSOE) and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos (UP).

Opinion polls also show the current opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's conservative People's Party (PP), would come out on top but not form an absolute majority.

Both Sanchez and Feijóo have already voted as of this report.

Complutense University professor Andres Villena told CNN that in calling the elections, Sanchez made "a complex chess move," hoping to outmaneuver Feijóo.

Hotly-Contested Race

The race for the most seats in the Spanish parliament, known to locals as the Cortes Generales, has been embroiled in campaign issues for both the SSOE and the PP, as well as the other parties contesting for this year's general elections.

The SSOE-UP coalition lost a majority of seats in local elections held across Spain last May. Feijóo also accused Sanchez of being dictatorial to his own cabinet, a concept the PP called "sanchismo." The SSOE also accused the PP of enabling the far-right Vox party's denial of anthropogenic climate change and gender-based violence in exchange for a coalition deal should they win the election.

However, Sanchez's progressive agenda received a mixed reception from Spaniards. While policies on women's rights and the legalization of euthanasia have been welcomed in urban areas, these were opposed by people in the countryside.

On the other hand, the PP performed poorly in the last few days of the campaign period leading up to Sunday's polls. For his part, Feijóo made gains and blunders during the campaign, winning a final head-to-head debate with Sanchez before election day but was also questioned for making questionable claims about the PP's track record on pensions and his alleged sexist response to Spanish deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz.