Madrid (CNN) A far-right party in Spain broke new political ground Sunday after winning 12 seats in a regional election for the first time since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

In another sign that the far-right is gaining momentum in Europe, the Vox party gained its success in Andalucia, an area in the south of the country which has suffered with high unemployment and is one of the flashpoints for the country's battle with illegal immigration.

Its success was lauded by French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, who tweeted : "Strong and warm congratulations to my friends from Vox, who tonight in Spain scored a meaningful result for such a young and dynamic movement."

Vox has attracted voters with its hard line stance on illegal immigration, its opposition to Catalan independence and its calls for Gibraltar to be returned to Spain.

It could now find itself in a position as kingmaker with the ruling Socialist party failing to secure enough seats to command a majority.

Vox candidate for Andalusian regional Presidency, magistrate Francisco Serrano (C), reacts during an election night party in Seville/.

Read More </s> In this Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018 photo, Spain's far-right Vox Party President Santiago Abascal, centre, with the general secretary, Javier Ortega, left, and regional candidate Francisco Serrano take part in a rally during regional elections in Andalusia, in Seville, Spain. The Socialists won just 33 seats in the Andalusia legislature, compared to 47 in 2015. The party could lose control of Spain's most populated region for the first time in 36 years if parties on the right can agree to form a government. The anti-immigrant, extreme right Vox party won 12 seats - its first in any Spanish legislative body. (AP Photo/Gogo Lobato) (AP) </s> A far-right party has won seats in a Spanish regional parliament for the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

With 99% of the votes counted in Andalucía, the small Vox party took 12 seats in the 109-member regional parliament.

The Socialists won the election, but saw their support plummet to just 33 seats, compared to 47 in 2015 – far from the majority of 55 seats needed to govern.

The result means that Vox, which opposes illegal immigration and Catalan independence, has exceeded even the most optimistic poll predictions which had forecast a possible five seat win. The party’s platform includes restricting abortion and rolling back domestic violence laws.

Vox had not previously held any seats in any legislative body in Spain since its founding four years ago, and now it has the key to forming a government in the nation’s most populated region.

“Now is the moment to say loud and clear who we are and that we have come to stay,” Vox candidate Francisco Serrano told a crowd of supporters who chanted: “Spain! Spain! Spain!”

Andalucía has been a Socialist bastion for 36 years, but the party could lose control of the government if parties on the right join forces to oust regional leader Susana Diaz, though that would require that they join forces with Vox.

“Despite winning the election it is a sad night for the Socialist Party,” Diaz said.

“There has been a real loss of ground for the Left. But the worst thing is that the extreme right, a phenomenon that has appeared in the rest of Europe, has arrived here.”

Diaz said she would call on other parties to “build a firewall against the extreme right in Spain.”

“Each party must decide if they are against the extreme right or if they will rely on their support to enter into government,” she said.

The Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) scored the worst result in its history winning 33 seats so far.

Its potential ally on the left Adelante Andalusia (Forward Andalusia) picked up only 17 seats, depriving the left of a majority, while the conservative Popular Party (PP) won 26 seats and the Ciudadanos liberals took 21 seats.

The poll had been seen as the first of a series of tests for Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez.

It was Sanchez’s first electoral test since taking office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

His Socialists had ruled Andalusia since 1982.

The vote is a mere foretaste of the coming “super election year”: 2019 will see municipal, regional and European elections and perhaps even an early general election to coincide with the other May polls.

All eyes will now be on Vox, which could try to use Andalusia as a springboard in next year’s elections.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report </s> A fragmented Spanish Parliament has convened for the first time, including five Catalan politicians released from prison for the occasion and escorted there by police.

Four separatists, on trial for Catalonia's 2017 secession attempt, were elected to the Congress of Deputies and one to the Senate last month.

The Supreme Court has allowed them to attend the opening sessions in Madrid but they are likely to be barred from future meetings by the chambers' governing bodies, due to be elected later on Tuesday.

For the first time since dictator Gen. Francisco Franco's death in 1975, 24 far-right lawmakers have also taken seats in the lower house, representing the Vox party.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won the national election but has put off negotiations on governing alliances until after the European ballot on Sunday. </s> A far-right party has gained its first electoral success in Spain since the country's return to democracy in the late 1970s. The ruling Socialists suffered a setback in the regional elections in Andalusia, with the anti-immigrant, extreme right Vox party claiming 12 seats in the 109-member regional parliament. It was the first electoral test for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s party since he took power in June. Vox had not previously held any seats in any legislative body in Spain since its founding four years ago, and now it has the key to forming a government in Spain’s most populated region. Spain only transitioned to democracy upon the death of former military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

“Now is the moment to say loud and clear who we are and that we have come to stay,” a Vox candidate told a crowd of supporters who chanted “Spain! Spain! Spain!” Andalusia has been a Socialist bastion for 36 years, but the party could lose control of the government if parties on the right join forces to oust regional leader Susana Diaz, though that would require that they join forces with Vox. With 99% of the votes counted, the Socialists won the election, but saw their support plummet to just 33 seats, compared to 47 in 2015. That left the Socialists far from the majority of 55 seats needed to govern, even if they can get the backing of the far-left party Adelante Andalucia, which took 17 seats. “Despite winning the election it is a sad night for the Socialist Party,” Ms Diaz said. “There has been a real loss of ground for the Left. But the worst thing is that the extreme right, a phenomenon that has appeared in the rest of Europe, has arrived here.” The conservative Popular Party and centre-right Citizens party held 47 seats between them. That gives them fewer than the Socialists and Adelante Andalucia, so they would need the votes of Vox to reach the absolute majority.

Ms Diaz said she would call on other parties to “build a firewall against the extreme right in Spain”. “Each party must decide if they are against the extreme right or if they will rely on their support to enter into government,” she said. Vox’s platform includes a crackdown on immigration, a defence of Spain’s unity against Catalonia secessionists, restricting abortion and rolling back domestic violence laws. Two members of Vox shouted insults at Ms Diaz when she submitted her ballot early on Sunday in Seville. Vox said both people had been removed from their positions as voting monitors due to “inappropriate behaviour”. Mr Sanchez leads a minority government in Spain since he toppled former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who lost a no-confidence vote. There is speculation Mr Sanchez may call early elections if he cannot pass a national budget this year instead of serving out the legislative term that runs until 2020. </s> The populist tide that has brought the far-Right into mainstream politics across Europe has so far largely failed to materialise in Spain.

But that could be about to change on Sunday as the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic Vox party hopes to make its first gains as it takes advantage of the rising number of asylum seekers crossing from North Africa.

If Vox picks up the two seats predicted in Andalucia's regional elections, it would mark the first parliamentary representation on any level in Spain since democracy replaced General Franco.

Among the ultra-conservative Catholic party's radical policies are a wall to keep immigrants out of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla that border Morocco,... </s> A far-right party won seats in a Spanish regional parliament for the first time since the country returned to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, results in Andalusia's election showed.

With more than 99 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, the small Vox party took 12 seats, handing a majority to right-wing parties in the southern Spanish region governed by the Socialists for more than three decades.

The result means that Vox, which opposes illegal immigration and Catalan independence, has exceeded even the most optimistic poll predictions which had forecast a possible five seat win.

"The Andalusians have made history... and got rid of 36 years of socialist rule," said Vox leader Santiago Abascal.

The Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) scored the worst result in its history winning 33 seats.

Its potential ally on the left Adelante Andalusia (Forward Andalusia) picked up only 17 seats, depriving the left of a majority, while the conservative Popular Party (PP) won 26 seats and the Ciudadanos liberals took 21 seats.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen sent "warm congratulations" in a tweet to her "Vox friends".

The poll had been seen as the first of a series of tests for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

It was Sanchez's first electoral test since taking office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal.

His Socialists had ruled Andalusia since 1982.

The vote, however, is a mere foretaste of the coming 'super election year': 2019 will see municipal, regional and European elections and perhaps even an early general election to coincide with the other May polls.

All eyes will now be on Vox which can try to use Andalusia as a springboard in next year's elections.

If it did win a seat in the next general election, it would be the first time a far-right party had had a presence in Spain's lower house of parliament since 1982.

In all, 6.5 million were eligible to vote in the ballot in Andalusia, the country's most populous region and among its poorest.

The PSOE's Susana Diaz -- who last year unsuccessfully challenged Sanchez for the party leadership -- had been seeking to retain the regional presidency while also giving Sanchez and the national party a fillip.

But Vox sought to throw a spoke in their wheels by adding its voice to traditional conservative forces led by the PP and market-friendly Ciudadanos, which has in recent years challenged the PP for the mantle of Spain's dominant liberal force.

"These elections are key as a first step in the removal of Pedro Sanchez" and the PSOE from the government, PP leader Pablo Casado told Radio COPE on Friday.

Casado said a defeat in its traditional southern fiefdom would render the PSOE's attempt to retain power nationally "unsustainable." The Socialists are already walking a tightrope given they hold just 84 seats in the 350-seat national assembly.

Both the PP and Ciudadanos had said during the campaign that if rightwing forces together won a majority of seats they would not rule out accepting support in the regional chamber from Vox.

Vox's campaigning had mainly been against illegal immigration and any decentralisation of powers from Madrid.

Pablo Iglesias, leader of the far-left Podemos party, called on all leftist groups to mobilise "to defend liberties, social justice, fraternity and ultimately democracy".

Diaz meanwhile called for "stability" as she ended her campaign, warning voters against forces of the right and far-right that "want to take us backwards". </s> Spain's governing centre-left Socialists won the country's election Sunday but must seek backing from smaller parties to maintain power, while a far-right party rode an unprecedented surge of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades.

Voters in Spain had become disillusioned as the country struggled with a recession, austerity cuts, corruption scandals, the divisive Catalan independence demands and a rise in far-right Spanish nationalism not seen since Spain's dictatorship ended in the 1970s.

With 99 per cent of ballots counted, the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won nearly 29 per cent of the vote, capturing 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. The new far-right Vox party made its national breakthrough by capturing about 10 per cent of the vote, which would give it 24 seats.

Vox's success apparently came at the expense of the once-dominant conservative Popular Party, which fell to 66 seats, losing half of its support since the last election in 2016. The conservatives also lost votes to the centre-right Citizens party, which will increase its number of seats from 32 to 57.

"We told you that we were going to begin a re-conquering of Spain and that's what we have done," Vox leader Santiago Abascal said, in reference to the 15th-century campaign by the Spanish Catholic Kings to end Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula.

Vox, which was formed five years ago, has promised to defend Spain from its "enemies," citing feminists, liberal elites and Muslims among others. Its emergence on the national stage gives Spain five political parties, furthering political fragmentation in a country that was alternately ruled for decades by the Socialists and the Popular Party.

Santiago Abascal, leader of far-right party Vox, is seen at a polling station in Madrid. (Andrea Comas/Associated Press)

To remain in office, Sanchez will have to form a governing alliance with smaller parties, including the far-left United We Can led by Pablo Iglesias.

Iglesias said after the vote the he "would have liked a better result, but it's been enough to stop the right-wing and build a left-wing coalition government," adding that he's already offered support to Sanchez.

But Sanchez will still need 15 more seats to reach a majority in the 350-seat lower house of parliament, meaning he may be forced to make pacts with Catalan and other separatist parties — moves that would anger many Spaniards, especially the nationalist Vox supporters.

Pablo Casado, who has steered the Popular Party further to the right to stop it from losing votes to Vox, called the ballot the country's "most decisive" in years. Polls only a week ago showed that about one-third of Spain's nearly 37 million voters were still undecided.

Turnout in Sunday's vote was around 75 per cent, up more than eight points since the previous election in 2016. The surge in turnout included a huge boost in the northeastern Catalonia region, which has been embroiled in a political quagmire since its failed secession bid in 2017 put several separatist leaders in jail while they undergo trial.

People line up to cast their votes at a polling station in Barcelona. Turnout in Sunday's vote was around 75 per cent. (Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press)

The arrival of Vox in Madrid's national parliament marks a big shift in Spain, where the far right has not played a significant role since the country's transition to democracy following the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

The Popular Party and the Citizens party focused their campaigns on unseating Sanchez, hinting they could create a conservative coalition government — with the backing of Vox — like the one that recently ousted the Socialists from the southern Andalusia region.

Speaking Sunday after voting, Sanchez said he wanted the ballot to yield a parliamentary majority that can undertake the key social and political reforms that Spain needs.

The prime minister said he wanted "a stable government that with calmness, serenity and resolution looks to the future and achieves the progress that our country needs in social justice, national harmony" and in fighting corruption.

Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez casts his vote inside a polling station in Pozuelo de Alarcon, near Madrid. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press)

At the Palacio Valdes school in Madrid, voter Alicia Sanchez, a 38-year-old administrator, worried about the influence of the nationalist Vox party.

"I've always come to vote, but this time it feels special. I'm worried about how Vox can influence policies on women and other issues. They are clearly homophobic. Reading their program is like something from 50 years ago," she said.

Having voted in all elections since Spain returned to democratic rule four decades ago, Amelia Gomez, 86, and Antonio Roman, 90, said they had little faith in any candidate.

"All I want is for whoever wins to take care of the old people," Gomez said, complaining that the two of them together receive less than 1,000 euros ($1,500 Cdn) a month in state pensions. </s> A far-right party has won seats in a Spanish regional election for the first time in decades.

The Vox party took 12 parliamentary seats in Andalusia on Sunday, beating expectations that it would win five.

But who are Spain's far-right party?
Francisco José Alcaraz, from Vox, becomes the first far-right politician to become a Senator since the restoration of democracy.