MADRID (AP) — Voting in Spain has started in a regional vote for southern Andalusia, the first major electoral test since Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took power in June.
As Spain's most populated region with nearly 6.3 million voters cast ballots on Sunday, a strong result for the Socialists would give a boost to Sanchez's minority government. Polls forecast a victory for current regional leader, Susana Diaz, whose Socialist party has ruled Andalusia since 1982.
The election is also the first since the opposition conservative Popular Party chose Pablo Casado as its new leader after former PM Mariano Rajoy lost a no-confidence vote and was toppled by Sanchez.
In Sunday's vote, the anti-immigrant, extreme-right Vox party is trying to win its first seats in a regional parliament in Spain.
