Spain's repeat polls ended today with the incumbent conservatives appearing to have won the most seats tailed closely by a far-left coalition led by Podemos, exit polls said.
The election came just three days after Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union, pitting those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spain's slow economic recovery.
If the results are confirmed, this would be a historic shift in Spain with the Unidos Podemos coalition replacing the 137-year-old, crisis-hit Socialists as the country's main left-wing force.
Podemos was only created just over two years ago on the back of the Indignants anti-austerity protest movement, and has experienced a meteoric rise with charismatic, pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias at the helm.
"If this is confirmed, we would be faced with a historic opportunity for our country," said Alberto Garzon, one of the leaders of Unidos Podemos, although he urged caution on the results.
The outgoing conservative Popular Party (PP) had based much of its campaign on trying to counter the rise of the upstart, emphasising the need for "stability" in the face of "populism" -- and it reinforced this message Friday after Brexit.
But according to a wide-ranging exit poll for public television TVE, it may only have won up to 121 parliamentary seats, far below the 176 needed for an absolute majority and even lower than the 123 it won in December.
Unidos Podemos, meanwhile, looked poised to secure 91 to 95 seats, and the Socialists 81 to 85, according to the poll.
The general election in December had seen Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudadanos uproot the country's two-party dominance in an unprecedented result.
But this also resulted in a 350-seat parliament so splintered that parties failed to agree on a coalition, prompting today's repeat vote.
This time round, exit polls suggest the result is equally fractured.
All eyes will now be on subsequent coalition negotiations, with political leaders under more pressure this time to form some sort of government and avoid a third round of elections.
Throughout the campaign -- and again on Friday after the Brexit vote -- the PP had hammered away at the need for stability in reference to the rise of Unidos Podemos, which like Greece's ruling Syriza party rejects EU-backed austerity and pledges to fight for the least well-off.
