Gloves off in Spain poll fight

Rajoy may have to make deals to take power

Official campaigning in Spain's general election has kicked off with rallies by the two main parties.

The poll takes place on 14 March, with the governing centre-right Popular Party fighting off a strong challenge from opposition Socialists.

Polls suggest the Popular Party will stay as the biggest party, but may lose its parliamentary majority.

Current Popular Party Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar is not standing for re-election.

The campaign started at midnight as party leaders joined a tradition of pasting up election posters.

Profile: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Profile: Mariano Rajoy

Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party's candidate for prime minister, opened his campaign in the north-western town of Santiago de Compostela in front of 15,000 supporters.

Socialist candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero chose the capital, Madrid, to launch his campaign under the slogan "We deserve a better Spain".

The Popular Party has been in power since 1996.

Opinion polls published on Friday suggested that it would again take first place, but would have to find a coalition partner to form a government.

A survey in the right-leaning La Razon paper suggested the Popular Party could get 170-71 seats, down from its 2000 election total of 183 and half a dozen seats short of a majority.

The Socialists were expected to seize at least 15 extra seats, up from their current 125.

The United Left was on six or seven and the Catalan Regional Party, CiU, had 11-13.

The Basque Nationalist Party may win nine seats and the Canary Island Coalition, four.

The survey had a margin of error of 3.99%, the paper said.

A separate study showed a similar outcome, suggesting the Popular Party would win a maximum of 172 seats, and the socialists up to 144.