SPAIN has raised the "Ghost of Franco" after far-right Vox doubled its seats in yesterday's election - surging to become the third-biggest party.
The neo-Francoist party successfully pushed anti-migrant messages and attacked laws that protect women from domestic abuse.
At the weekend, Spain went to the polls for the fourth time in four years.
Julia Giobelina, a 34-year-old web designer from Madrid, was angry at having to vote for the second time this year alone.
But she said she cast her ballot in hopes of stopping Vox, telling the Associated Press: "They are the new fascism.
"We citizens need to stand against privatisation of health care and other public services."
As of today, though, neither right nor left-wing parties won enough seats to govern with a majority - although the Socialists won most seats.
The election's bombshell came with right-wing voters flocking to the far-right Vox party, giving it 52 seats to become the parliament's third force, behind the Socialists and the conservative Popular Party, which won 88 seats.
Incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists won the most - picking up 120 seats - but they fell far short of a majority in the 350-seat chamber.
Now stuck in limbo, the party will need to make deals if it's to govern.
Sanchez vowed to clear the stalemate, saying: "We extend this call to all the political parties, except those that plant the seeds of hate in our democracy."
Political commentators warned that Spain could go many more weeks or even months without a new government, with no immediate end to the stalemate between forces on the right and the left.
Far-right party Vox is led by Santiago Abascal, 43.
Now the third leading party in the Congress of Deputies, Abascal hailed the result as "the greatest political feat seen in Spain.
"Just 11 months ago, we weren't even in any regional legislature in Spain.
"Today we are the third-largest party in Spain and the party that has grown the most in votes and seats."
Vox has been described as an "upstart right wing neo-Francoist party" by Daniel Hellinger, emeritus professor of international relations at Webster University, Missouri, in .
The expert adds that "through Vox, Franco's ghost not only haunts the left, but also Spain's mainstream conservative Popular Party (PP), whose founders include mid-level officials from the Franco government."
He attributes Vox's success with voters to its policies - defending controversial bullfighting, gun ownership, while opposing abortion, euthanasia, LGBT rights and secularisation.
Also, many right-wingers were not pleased by the Socialist government's exhumation of late dictator Gen. Francisco Franco's remains last month from his gargantuan mausoleum, so he could no longer be exalted in a public place.
Plus, voters applauded Vox's vehement opposition to a secessionist drive in Catalonia.
Three Catalan separatist parties won a combined 23 seats on Sunday.
Right-wing populist and anti-migrant leaders across Europe celebrated Vox's strong result.
Marine Le Pen, who heads France's National Rally party, told Abascal his efforts were "bearing fruit".
In Italy, Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League party tweeted a picture of himself next to Abascal with the words "Congratulations to Vox!" above Spanish and Italian flags.
And in the Netherlands, anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders posted a photograph of himself with Abascal and wrote "FELICIDADES" Spanish for congratulations with three thumbs-up emojis.
Far-right Vox became the third-largest party in Spain’s parliament in a national election on Sunday, winning 52 seats, up from 24 at its debut in April.
The April election was the first time a far-right party won more than one seat since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s.
Francisco Franco held the nation under his dictatorship for almost four decades, until his death in 1975.
Vox is anti-Muslim, nationalist, anti-feminist, Eurosceptic, socially conservative, economically liberal, and staunchly pro-Spanish.
It got its first foothold in office last December, winning 12 parliamentary seats in a regional election in Andalusia.
Vox is aligned with the broader populist movement that has also risen swiftly in other European countries, notably Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Italy.
Vehemently anti-secessionist, it has berated the caretaker Socialist government for making deals with separatists to win their backing in parliament over the past year, and for failing to maintain order in Catalonia.
Vox has also capitalised on its opposition to the recent exhumation of Fascist leader Francisco Franco - whose legacy still divides opinion 44 years after his death.
Vox proposes a Spanish “rebirth”, with party leader Santiago Abascal referencing founders of fascist ideology, and Francoist sympathisers have joined its ranks.
Economically, Vox’s manifesto has been ultra-liberal - pledging to halve the highest income tax rate to 15%, reducing corporate tax, and abolishing wealth and inheritance taxes.
It has pledged, too, to partially privatise Spain’s pension system.
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