Spain election 2019: Country set for one of its most closely-contested elections in decades

Spain is gearing up for one of its most tightly-fought national elections in decades.

No party is expected to get a big enough vote share in Sunday's (April 28) snap poll — called after the government failed to pass its budget — to govern alone.

With five parties in with a chance of being in power, it means Spain is likely to have its first coalition government since the return of democracy in the late 1970s,

It is also expected to be the first time far-right MPs — in the form of the Vox Party — will be elected to parliament since 1982.

Catalonia’s independence controversy has dominated the election and put the economy on the backburner.