Last December, voters in the Spanish state struck a decisive blow against the “Regime of ’78” — the two-party system controlled by the center-left Socialist Party (PSOE) and the center-right Popular Party (PP) since the fall of Franco.

While the PP maintained its position as the first force in Spanish politics, the real story was the collapse of the once-mighty PSOE and the rise of Podemos, which won over 20 percent of the vote in its first national election and came within striking distance of the social democrats. With the new liberal formation Ciudadanos garnering close to 14 percent of the vote, the political system was split four ways and negotiations to form a new coalition government repeatedly failed.

Today, Spanish voters return to the polls to resolve the deadlock, and there is every indication that the result will be historic. Recent polls show that Unidos Podemos, a recently-formed alliance including Podemos, the United Left (IU), Equo (a party of left ecologists), and various regional parties, is posed to overtake the PSOE and become the leading force on the Spanish left.