Spain's ruling centre-right Partido Popular will lose its absolute majority in a general election to be held on March 14th but will still beat the opposition by a clear margin, two polls showed this morning.
A poll El Pais showed the PP winning 42 per cent of the vote and between 168 and 172 seats - short of the 176 needed to allow it to pass laws without help from other parties.
The PP - now led by Mr Mariano Rajoy, the handpicked successor of the current Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar - has enjoyed absolute majority for the last four years, with 183 seats, and made the most of that position to pass controversial laws.
The El Pais poll showed the socialists party, PSOE winning 38 per cent of the vote, giving them 134 to 141 seats - an improvement on their current 125.
Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia showed the PP losing even more seats in parliament. Their poll showed the governing party winning just 41.4 per cent of votes, to give them between 162 and 167 seats.
The Socialists were seen increasing their influence to 143 to 147 seats.