A victory for opposition leader Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People's Party appears to be a foregone conclusion and the main question is exactly what austerity measures he plans to impose to steer Spain away from economic meltdown.

A gloomy mood hung over the country on Saturday, with little apparent excitement for the election.

High unemployment, cuts in public spending, and fears that Spain could become the next euro zone country to need a rescue package for its debt problems have sapped morale and dominated the election campaigns.

Lines of people formed in central Madrid on Saturday morning — not in anticipation of polling stations opening, but to buy tickets for the national Christmas lottery, known as El Gordo, which could make them instant millionaires.

"We're going to buy lottery tickets to see if we win, that's the only way things will change," said Ana Maria Gomez, 42-year-old housewife. "Everyone is very pessimistic, there's no work there's no hope."

Also standing in line at the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's main gathering ground, was Amparo Garcia, an 82-year-old retiree.

"I hope things improve because I have two grandchildren without work — one of them a father of triplets. Jobs are essential, especially for parents of families," she said.

Other elderly folk complained that their pensions had been frozen by the ruling Socialist government.

Opinion polls give the People's Party an unassailable lead over the Socialists, widely seen by Spaniards as having mishandled the response to the growing euro zone debt crisis.

Such is the unpopularity of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that he decided not to stand for office again.

His chosen successor, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has virtually given up in the past few weeks and his campaign has focused on warning of the dangers of an over-powerful rightist government.

Ana Maria Lopez, a 53-year-old chiropodist, poured scorn on the Socialists and said she intended to vote Sunday. "This government is the worst, everything it touches it destroys. I want a change, I'm fed up with this," she said. "I'm self-employed, this government has never given anything to the self-employed they only want our money and our taxes."