Madrid:  Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party won Sunday’s general election with 28.7 per cent of the vote, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.

‘According to the information we have, with 90.39 per cent of the ballots counted, the Popular Party won this general election,’ she said.

The Socialists came in second place with 22.19 per cent support, she added, closely followed by the new left-wing Podemos party in third place.

An exit poll for public television TVE had earlier put Podemos in second place behind the Popular Party and ahead of the Socialists.

The results will produce a deeply fragmented parliament which will struggle to produce a stable government majority.

With 176 seats required for a majority, only an unlikely collaboration between the Popular Party and the Socialists — or a combination of more than two parties — would produce a stable alliance.

The election came in the midst of a strong economic recovery with growth projected to surpass three per cent this year and falling unemployment.

But at 21 per cent the jobless rate remains high and there was deep voter concern over mounting inequality and the lack of stable jobs.