LIVE RESULTS – Popular Party on cusp of losing majorities in all regions

1.14am That concludes our live coverage of the 2015 municipal and regional elections in Spain. Latest news and updates on the English Edition from 9am CEST Monday morning.

1.05am Summary of the night so far: Spain's historical parties, the Popular Party and the Socialist Party, have lost a significant amount of citizen support at Sunday's polls, thanks to the rise of emerging parties such as Podemos and Ciudadanos. The PP is still the most-voted party, but it has lost nearly 2.55 million votes compared to 2011. The Socialists, for their part, remain the second most-voted party, but have lost 775,000 votes compared to the last municipal and regional elections.

1am The PP and the PSOE have lost nearly 13 points and 3.3 million votes compared to 2011 elections.

12.57am Popular Party candidate Cristina Cifuentes confident of pact with Ciudadanos, which would sweep her to power in the Madrid region.

12.55am Cospedal claims victory in Castilla-La Mancha despite losing majority. "The people have spoken and they have given their support to the PP."

12.49am Key Popular Party figure María Dolores de Cospedal wins the regional election in Castilla-La Mancha but loses absolute majority. A coalition between the Socialist Party and Podemos could impede her investiture.

12.37am To sum up the regional races: The Popular Party is set to lose its majority – and is unlikely to be able to agree on coalitions – in Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia and Madrid. Pacts between leftist groups could also take power in Aragón, Extremadura and Balearics. The PP will hold on to power for now in Castilla y León, La Rioja and Murcia.

12.35am From EL PAÍS reporter José Precedo: “Cristina Cifuentes could be the big winner of the night in the Popular Party. With her low profile, she could hold on to the region.”

12.28am PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez: “The Socialist Party has caught up with the Popular Party. A new political cycle has begun in Spanish life that will be headed up by the PSOE. And the best is to come.”

12.08pm PP mayoral hopeful Esperanza Aguirre admits that after securing 21 seats, who gets to govern the city of Madrid will depend on post-election deals. “We have received the message from Madrileños, and are aware that we have gone from 48 percent support in 2011 to 34.4 support right now.”

12.06pm The Madrid mayoral candidate Manuela Carmena, who heads the Ahora Madrid group, says that “at this point in time, it is clear that there has been a victory by a majority who wants change.”

12.05am “Whether I get to be mayor or whether there is a deal that sends the PP into the opposition, my first message can only be one of gratitude,” says PP mayoral hopeful Esperanza Aguirre.

12.03am The PP’s mayoral hopeful, Esperanza Aguirre, offers a press statement to announce that she has won the elections after securing 21 seats. “We will have the key to the mayor’s office if there is no deal between other parties,” she says.

11.59pm María Dolores de Cospedal, the regional premier of Castilla-La Mancha, is close to securing an absolute majority in her re-election bid. If she does not, an alliance between the Socialists and Podemos could keep her out of government. The region is one of the PP’s biggest strongholds, and Cospedal is also the PP’s secretary general.

11.57pm With 96 percent of votes counted, the Socialists are the most voted force in Andalusia, Asturias, Aragón and Extremadura, while the PP wins greater support in Madrid, Galicia, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Valencia, Murcia and the Balearic Islands.

11.55pm The PP loses its absolute majority in Murcia. Although it won 51.36 percent of the votes, it lost 21 percentage points compared with 2011 elections.

11.53pm “We are here to start changing things, and we have laid the first brick,” says Begoña Villacís, Madrid mayoral hopeful for Ciudadanos, which has seven seats in the city council.

11.51pm “We are the first political force and that bestows great responsibility upon us, the responsibility of leading stable governments,” adds Floriano. “Our major task will be to reach agreements. Spain is on the right track.”

11.48pm The PP’s press chief Carlos Floriano says that the conservative party “has won the elections again, with all due respect to other groups. We will exercise our majority from a position of humbleness.”

11.42pm With 97.36 percent of votes counted and the mayoral race tighter than ever, Esperanza Aguirre of the PP seems more likely to secure the last councilor she needs to win in the city of Madrid. She needs 12,390 votes more to secure an absolute majority. For now Aguirre has 21 seats, while her rival Manuela Carmena of the leftist coalition Ahora Madrid has 20.

11.37pm Rosa Díez announces that in the light of Sunday’s outcome, she will not run for party leadership at the next UPyD extraordinary congress. “I lament that the great work this party has done is not reflected at the polls. I think we did what we had to do.”

11.34pm “I am grateful for all the votes we received, and would like to tell our members that I am proud to represent honest, clean and generous people,” said Rosa Díez, leader of Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), which was virtually wiped off the Spanish political map after many of her voters switched to Ciudadanos and Podemos. She added that she would not be running again for leadership of the party. 

11.33pm In Madrid, with 95% of vote counted, Esperanza Aguirre (PP) is leading Manuela Carmena (Ahora Madrid) by 33,000 votes.

11.28pm Artur Mas, the Catalan premier, says that of CiU’s two goals at these elections, one has been met: being the most voted force in Catalonia. His bloc has just lost the city of Barcelona to a social activist with no prior experience in politics, Ada Colau.

11.13pm No leaders have come out on the balcony at PP headquarters on Génova street in Madrid, as is their custom on election nights.

11.12pm Ada Colau, the anti-eviction activist who has won the mayoral race in Barcelona against the incumbent Xavier Trías, of CiU: “This is a victory of David against Goliath.”

11.10pm The PP seems set to lose all the provincial capitals of Castilla y León.

11.06pm Xavier Trias, the outgoing mayor of Barcelona for CiU, addressing regional premier Artur Mas (also of CiU): “I feel bad for my team, for the party and for you. I think it was important to maintain the nationalist vote in Barcelona.”

11.04pm Xavier Trias, the outgoing mayor of Barcelona for CiU, makes a press statement in the company of regional premier Artur Mas: “It’s sad to say it, but we’ve lost.”

11.01pm Ada Colau: “I want to be a mayor at the service of the people, so there will never again be first-class citizens and second-class citizens in this town. I want to be the mayor of the capital of Catalonia, a nation that can freely decide its relationship with the [Spanish] State.”

10.55pm “We said it could be done, and we’ve proven it,” says Ada Colau, the anti-eviction activist who will be the new mayor of Barcelona after beating the incumbent Xavier Trías of the Catalan nationalist bloc CiU. “We are an unstoppable democratic revolution,” she added.

10.53pm Turnout is 64.66 percent, two points below 2011. So far, the PP appears to have secured 21,695 councilors, representing 26 percent of the vote. The Socialists come in second with 19,887 seats and 25.21 percent of the vote, followed by United Left (IU) with 2,162 councilors and Ciudadanos with 1,444.

10.49pm In Madrid, with 80 percent of votes counted, Aguirre and Carmena are neck and neck with 21 councilors for the former and 20 for the latter. The Socialists hold the key to the city council with nine seats, while Ciudadanos obtains seven. It takes 29 seats to have a majority in the municipal chamber.

10.47pm In the city of Salamanca, with 96.09 percent of the vote counted, the PP gets 12 seats, followed by the Socialists with seven, Ciudadanos with four and Ganemos with another four.

10.44pm “Yes, they’ve turned their backs on us. Many thanks to everyone who voted for us and to all the ‛upeyderos.’ We will continue to work for everyone.” Tweeted at 10.24pm by Carlos Martínez Gorriarán, a leader for Union, Progress and Democracy (UpyD), which has been virtually wiped off the map at these elections

10.37pm Nou Barris, a Barcelona neighborhood that used to be a Socialist bastion, now shows 33 percent support for anti-eviction activist Ada Colau of Bcomú, while the Socialists are down to 16.2 percent.

10.35pm In the city of Huelva, with 99.54 percent of the vote counted, the Socialists win with 11 councilors, followed by the PP with eight, Ciudadanos with three and the leftist-green coalition IULV-CA another three.

10.34pm The Interior Ministry website is offering up-to-date information once again.

10.31pm In the city of Seville, with 84.91 percent of votes counted, the PP wins by a narrow margin and secures 12 seats, compared with 11 for the Socialists.

10.26pm In the city of Madrid, with 62.50 percent of votes counted, the virtually unknown Manuela Carmena of the leftist group Ahora Madrid appears tied at 20 seats with the veteran PP politician Esperanza Aguirre, although the latter received more votes. The PSOE is the third most-voted force with 10 seats.

10.20pm In the city of Valencia, with 26 percent of votes counted, the PP is winning with 24.7 percent of the vote and nine councilors, although the leftist coalition Compromís gets just as many seats with slightly lower support of 23.83 percent.

10.14pm In the city of Valladolid, with 54.4 percent of votes counted, the PP has 33.44 percent support and 11 councilors, followed by the Socialists with 25.40 percent of the vote and nine seats. Valladolid Toma la Palabra gets four seats, and Sí se puede Valladolid obtains three.

10.14pm The Interior Ministry website has not offered updated voting information since 9.39pm. At that time, the PP and Ahora Madrid were tied in the Madrid mayoral race.

10.13pm The PP loses its absolute majority in most Andalusian provincial capitals, while the left obtains an upset victory in Seville, Huelva and Cádiz, according to preliminary results.

10.12pm A funeral mood pervades the Madrid headquarters of United Left (IU). Not one supporter has shown up, and only candidates with their families are there, as are some members of the press.

10.09pm Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, mayor of Marinaleda (Seville) since 1979, has been reelected with an absolute majority and 72.54% of the votes and nine councilors, compared to 19.20% and two councilors won by the PSOE.

10.08pm With 43.04 percent of votes counted, the PP is the first force in the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela with 10 seats, just three shy of an absolute majority, compared with nine for Compostela Aberta, four for the Galician Socialists (PsdeG) and two for the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG).

9.58pm With 4.54 percent of the vote counted in the Valencia region, the PP secures 31 seats in the regional assembly, the Socialists 26, Compromís 18, Podemos 12 and Ciudadanos 12.

9.55pm Ciudadanos secretary general Matías Alonso said the party is “extremely happy” with the 13 to 14 seats it may have secured in the Valencian regional assembly, according to an exit poll.

9.51pm With 45.23 percent of votes counted, the PP is the most voted party in the Basque city of Vitoria with 28,57% of votes and nine councilors. EH Bildu gets 20.02 percent of ballots and six councilors, while PNV obtains 16 percent support and five seats, followed by the Basque Socialists (PSE) with four councilors.

9.47 Popular Party loses absolute majorities in Seville, Huelva and Cadiz municipal elections, according to early results.

9.44pm Mayoral candidate in Barcelona, activist Ada Colau, is leading the race with 25% of the votes counted. 

9.38pm Pessimism over the mayoral race in Madrid growing at the Popular Party headquarters, reports José Precedo, as first results come in.

9.29pm With 22.28 percent of ballots counted for the municipal elections, the Socialist Party appears to be the most voted political force with 26.89 percent support, which translates into 10,415 councilors. The PP obtains 23.69 percent but gets more councilors, 11,695.

9.27pm Socialist leaders said they remain optimistic about the results of Sunday’s municipal and regional elections, because polls show “a change to the left” and evidence that citizens are rejecting the PP’s policies.

9.25pm In the Andalusian capital of Seville, where nearly 60 percent of votes have been counted, the Socialists win the local elections with 13 seats, over five points above the PP.

9.19pm With 17.71 percent of votes counted, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) may have won the city of San Sebastián, while the ruling EH Bildu – a coalition of radical nationalists – drops to second place with seven seats, same as the Basque Socialist Party (PSE).

9.16pm Compromís candidates to the Valencian regional assembly, Fran Ferri and Isaura Navarro, said that Valencian society “has voted for change and resoundingly rejected corruption” at Sunday’s local and regional elections. The first official results, however (with only 0.04% of votes counted) show the incumbent PP winning 41 seats.

9.11pm Sergio Pascual, organization secretary for Podemos, believes that this will be “the evening of a historical day” and thanked all citizens who went to the polls, as well as their own party members for their involvement in the campaign.

9.08pm Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) representative Itxaso Atutxa expressed satisfaction at increased turnout in the Basque region and said that this makes Basques “stronger and freer” during the first municipal and regional elections that are held “without the threat from ETA.”

9.02pm The number two figure at Ahora Madrid, Nacho Murgui, also refrained from issuing an opinion on the exit polls, which suggest a strong result for the leftist coalition, but he did underscore “the very positive high turnout.”

9.01pm Reactions from party leaders are starting to come in. Xavier Monge, former leader of the Catalan party CUP in 2011, asked for prudence gauging results because so far, “they are only surveys.” He also praised the high turnout, “which is asking for a political change.” José Manuel Villegas, deputy secretary general for Ciudadanos, said that “setting the foundations for a national project that will continue to advance in the coming months is a resounding success and a historical step in our project for Spain.”

8.59pm In the Valencia region, one of the PP’s biggest strongholds, the incumbent conservatives appear to have held on to power with between 33 and 35 seats in the regional assembly, though far from the 50 councilors required for an absolute majority, according to an exit poll by Antena 3. The Valencia Socialists (PSPV) appear to have won 22 to 24 seats, followed by Ciudadanos with between 13 and 15, same as Compromís. Podemos may have earned between 12 to 13 seats, and the United Left a maximum of three.

8.44pm In the city of Málaga, the PP may have secured between 11 and 13 seats, while Málaga Ahora, a leftist coalition that includes Podemos, can expect four or five councilors, making it the third strongest political force after the Socialists, who have won eight to nine seats, according to an exit poll by TNS Demoscopia.

8.38pm Turnout was slightly higher than in 2011, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry at 6pm, two hours before polling stations closed. At that time, 49.78 percent of voters had cast their ballots, compared with 49.19 percent four years ago.

8.35pm At the regional level, Antena 3 is forecasting a conservative victory in 11 regions, although the PP would not enjoy an absolute majority. According to this poll, the Socialists are the second most-voted force, while Podemos and Ciudadanos managed a foothold in all regional assemblies, though with a far smaller presence than the PP and PSOE.

8.08pm Polling stations closed at 8pm across Spain on Sunday, with the first estimates suggesting a strong showing by emerging parties at local and regional elections.

An Antena 3 poll for the city of Madrid shows that the ruling Popular Party (PP) may have secured between 21 and 23 seats in the local council, followed by the leftist coalition Ahora Madrid – which includes the anti-austerity party Podemos – with anywhere between 17 and 19. The Socialist Party (PSOE) is thought to have won nine to 10 seats, while another newcomer to national politics, Ciudadanos, would enter Madrid politics with seven or eight councilors.

A Telemadrid poll also put Manuela Carmena, the Ahora Madrid candidate, ahead of Esperanza Aguirre (PP) in the mayoral race.

In the city of Barcelona, a survey by the regional television station TV3 shows a tie between the incumbent, Xavier Trias of the Calatan nationalist bloc Convergència I Unió (CiU), who gets between nine and 11 seats, and Bcomú, a leftist coalition whose visible face is Ada Colau, a prominent activist who led a grassroots fight against home evictions during the crisis. This group may have 10 to 12 seats. The PP and Ciudadanos could also be tied with four to five concilors, followed by Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and CUP with three or four each.