Spain holds parliamentary elections

MADRID, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Spain's parliamentary elections kicked off Sunday as voters began to cast their ballots to elect anew Congress and Senate after four years of rule by the socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Voting at mainland polling stations began at 9 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) and will end at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). In the Canary Islands to the west, it is to begin and end an hour later. Results are expected late Sunday.

Surveys conducted before polling day showed that Zapatero's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the opposition Popular Party (PP) led by Mariano Rajoy were running neck and neck.

At stake are 350 seats in Congress, the lower house of parliament and 208 seats of the 264-member Senate, the upper house.

Another 56 Senate seats will be decided by indirect elections by the parliaments of Spain's 17 autonomous regions.

Results for the lower house will determine which party will lead the next government. Neither the PSOE nor the PP is expected to win more than 50 percent of the seats.

Both Zapatero and Rajoy's campaigning was heavily focused on the economy as the country is experiencing a sudden slowdown after three years of robust growth.

The bursting of the real estate bubble has put hundreds of thousands of jobs in danger, particularly in the construction sector.

Unemployment and inflation have been on the rise in recent months.

Another hotly-debated issue was terrorism. The government's failed negotiations with the Basque separatist group ETA have become an easy target for the conservatives' attacks.

On Friday, Isaias Carrasco, a former councilor from the ruling PSOE, was shot dead near his home in the Basque town of Mondragon. There have been no claims of responsibility for the shooting whilethe Spanish government has blamed ETA for the murder.

Zapatero's social policies over the past four years, such as the legalization of gay marriage and legislation that made divorce easier, have also angered the PP.

Following the 2004 elections, Zapatero's party was 12 seats short of an absolute majority in the lower house. He has ruled for the past four years with the support of smaller regional and left-wing parties.

MADRID, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Spaniards will cast their ballots Sunday to elect a new Congress and Senate after four years of being governed by socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spain's parliament comprises a lower house, the Congress, and an upper house, the Senate. Full story

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Spain will hold its parliamentary elections, once every four years, Sunday, with some 35.1 million voters electing the 350 members of the Congress of Deputies and 208 of the Senate's 264 members.

The following are some key facts about the country.