Barcelona voting: Barcelona turned out in force to vote yesterday, as more than seven in 10 registered voters in the capital of Catalonia visited polling stations across the city.
While the events of the last week were last night expected to impact on the result, the ruling Partido Populare (PP) has never been popular in Catalonia.
In the 2000 elections, they came in third behind the Socialist PSOE and the nationalist CiU parties.
Anti-government sentiments brewing here are unlikely to help them as yesterday police cordoned off the PP headquarters in Barcelona to keep out picketers carrying banners that read: "Before We Vote We Want The Truth." Some voters had already made up their own minds about what that truth was yesterday. In the busy España metro station, someone had spray painted, "Vote PP = Death" onto a advert.
At the Municipal Band of Barcelona, a community centre in Sants, a giant black ribbon hung over the door as 29-year-old waitress Ms Marga Gonzalez came down to vote.
"The events in Madrid have definitely influenced my vote more than usual.
"We need a new government, we need a change. We need leaders who will listen to the people of Spain and not make decisions against our wishes."