Support for Spain's mainstream parties rises in election: preliminary data

The People's Party (PP) of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would obtain 133 seats, up from 123 in a previous parliamentary election in December, while the socialist party (PSOE) would garner 93 seats, up from 90.

Meanwhile, two newcomer parties, anti-austerity Podemos and liberal Ciudadanos would fall from six months ago.

Unidos Podemos ("Together We Can"), a coalition of several leftist parties led by Podemos would get 70 seats, down from 71, and Ciudadanos would obtain 29, also down from 40.

Those projections, based on 51 percent of the vote counted and which could still vary significantly from the final results, suggest two closely-watched exit polls which predicted a sharp rise of Podemos and a fall of mainstream parties may have been wrong.

(Reporting by Julien Toyer; Editing by Sonya Dowsett)