Partido Popular set to win Nov 20 election

 

Spain's center-right People's Party will comfortably win parliamentary elections in two weeks time with an absolute majority, a private poll showed on Sunday, as voters punish the Socialist government for the country's economic woes.

The survey by Sigma Dos polling company published in newspaper El Mundo showed the PP winning the elections with 47.6% of the votes, compared with 30.6% for the ruling Socialists. That is barely changed from a poll taken on November 2.

The 17 percentage point advantage was in line with a survey published on Friday by the government's Center for Sociological Research (CIS), and comes before the election on November 20.

The private poll results would give the PP an outright majority in parliament, which would enable it to push through reforms more easily without the backing of other parties.

Voters are set to punish the ruling Socialists after eight year in government and a worsening crisis that has seen the unemployment rate rise from around 9% at the end of 2007, to 21.5% in the third quarter of the year.

The poll also showed that 43% of voters between 18 and 29-years-old would vote for the PP, compared with 24.4% for the Socialists.

Youth unemployment stood at 48% in September, according to Eurostat data.