Voting ends in Spain after election overshadowed by Catalan crisis

Voting drew to a close in Spain's fourth general election in as many years on Sunday, with the ballot overshadowed by the ongoing Catalan separatist crisis which has fuelled support for the upstart far-right party Vox.

As polling stations closed at 1900 GMT, figures from several opinion polls carried out in recent days but which could only be published after voting ended, suggested Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists would win with nearly 120 seats.

In the last election in April, the Socialists secured 123 of the parliament's 350 seats, falling far short of an absolute majority, and unable to form a government Sanchez was forced to call a new vote.

The survey also predicted a bigger-than-expected surge for Vox with around 50 seats, easily doubling the 24 it won in April when it made its parliamentary debut in the biggest showing by the far-right since Spain returned to democracy after dictator Francisco Franco's death in 1975.

Such a result would make Vox the third-largest party in parliament, after the rightwing Popular Party, which was seen taking just under 90 seats, up from 66 in April.

In recent days, Sanchez has repeatedly raised the alarm about Vox's "aggressive ultra-rightwing" policies, warning the party would drag the country back to the dark days of Franco's dictatorship.

The last election produced a near-record 76 percent turnout, which helped Sanchez who had mobilised left-leaning voters to oppose Vox.

But by 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) turnout stood at 56.9 percent, nearly four percentage points lower than at the same hour in the April ballot.

Spain does not publish an exit poll, with preliminary results expected in a few hours.

The campaign took place on the heels of a fresh wave of demonstrations in Catalonia.

Since mid-October when Spain's Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan leaders to lengthy jail terms over their role in a failed 2017 independence bid, separatist protesters have staged mass protests.

But by night, the protests initially descended into violent clashes, with masked demonstrators torching barricades and hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at riot police who hit back with water canon, tear gas and foam bullets.

More than 600 people were injured, around half of them police.

As the crisis gathered pace, Sanchez came under increasing pressure from the right to clamp down on the unrest, with Vox leader Santiago Abascal calling for Madrid to suspend Catalonia's autonomy and arrest regional president Quim Torra.

At his final campaign rally on Friday, Abascal -- who has pledged to ban all separatist parties -- said "drastic solutions" were needed as his supporters chanted: "Torra to the dungeon!"