By Fiona Govan, Madrid
Spain’s conservative party were set to win an overwhelming victory as the nation went to the polls to choose a government to steer the country through a looming debt crisis.
Initial exit polls suggested the Popular Party had secured between 181 and 185 seats, compared to 154 in the last legislature and that the socialists could only hope to win between 115 and 119 seats. The final results were not expected until late into Sunday night.
Mariano Rajoy, leader of the centre-right Popular Party (PP) was on course to win an absolute majority, as voters punished the ruling Socialists for their perceived mishandling of the economy.
But the 56-year old will have little time to savour his victory as fears grow that the debt laden nation may yet need to seek a bail-out after borrowing costs last week edged towards an unsustainable level.
Monday morning will bring the new Prime Minister the daunting task of winning over financial markets and bring confidence that Spain can swiftly trim its public deficit to save it from becoming the next victim of the Euro crisis.
Mr Rajoy gave little detail of the measures to come during the campaign but pledged major reforms, deeper austerity measures to bring Spain out of the crisis.
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