A close run battle

In a straw poll conducted by Vega Baja Digital, an online news bulletin, the two main parties were almost neck and neck.

96 -42.3% PSPV-PSOE (Socialists)

95 -41.9% PP (Conservatives)

So, it looks like a close run battle with everything to fight for in this region of Spain.

The main opposition Popular Party (PP) has enjoyed a double-digit lead over Mr Zapatero's Socialists during the past year.

However, in a poll published on Sunday by the newspaper El Mundo, the PP had a lead of between 7.1-7.9 percent over the Socialists depending on who replaces Mr Zapatero, compared to 16.5 per cent during the last poll published on March 9.

The poll showed that the Socialists would capture 37.8 percent of the vote with Defence Minister Carme Chacon, 40, at the helm of the party against 44.9 percent for the PP or 37.7 percent of the vote with Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, 59, a pillar of the Zapatero government since 2004, against 45.2 percent for the PP.