Security is high as first voters cast their ballots in the Basque country town of Mondragon, where a former councillor from the governing Socialist Party was shot and killed two days before the general election.

SHOWS: (BN09) MONDRAGON, SPAIN (MARCH 9, 2008) (REUTERS) -

Spaniards in the Basque town of Mondragon where an ex-socialist councillor was killed on Friday (March 7) went to the polls on Sunday (March 9) to vote in the parliamentary election.

Isaias Carrasco was shot five times in front of his wife and young daughter outside his house in Mondragon in a killing blamed by the Spanish government on Basque ETA separatists.

Speaking as he was about to place his vote, once of Carrasco's neighbours said that the murder would not keep him from voting.

"I was clear about my vote. I support the left Abertzale (Pacifist Socialist Political Party). I don´t support at all what has happened. So I was always clear that what I need to do is to vote and not abstain and give them (ETA) the pleasure. Aside of what they have done I find it incredible that I saw it (murder) from my home. I saw it just outside my window. And when you see these things happen from afar sometimes you don´t give it much importance. But when it happens near your home you pay attention, particularly when it´s a man you´ve known all your life. I didn´t share his views but that doesn´t mean I have to kill him. That´s what I think and that´s what I´m going to do," said the neighbour.

The general election is likely to return the governing Socialists to power, although again short of an absolute majority, after an ill-tempered campaign focussed on a weakening economy.

Four years ago, then opposition leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came from behind to win power on a wave of voter anger at the governing Popular Party, who tried to blame the ETA Basque separatists for election-eve bomb attacks that it turned out were by Islamic militants.

Carrasco´s killing has cast a pall over the election, but political commentators say this time around, the attack is unlikely radically to change the outcome after a campaign dominated by worries over soaring immigration and the end of an economic boom.

Opinion polls published on Monday -- the last day before a pre-election moratorium on polls -- showed the Socialists on 43.4 to 43.9 percent and Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) at between 39.3 and 39.5 percent.

Socialist supporters say a win for their party would finally silence PP gripes that the bomb attacks in 2004 robbed them of rightful victory.

The 2004 election upset ushered in four years of particularly bitter political confrontation focussed on the train bombings; ETA; regional autonomy;and Zapatero's programme of liberal policies such as legalising gay marriage.

Key to the result is turnout, particularly among young voters, who helped to boost participation to 76 percent in 2004 in outrage at what they saw as PP efforts to cover up who was really responsible for the bombings.

Commentators said Friday's murder of former Socialist councillor Carrasco might again boost the turnout.

That could help the Socialists, as PP supporters tend to be more reliable voters.

Analysts say a turnout of less than 75 percent would harm the Socialists and that a turnout below 70 percent could even tip the scales towards a conservative victory.

The PP has openly acknowledged that it is trying to get left-wing voters to abstain.

In any case, neither big party is likely to be able to govern without some form of support from regional or leftist parties, with whom the Socialists have made ad hoc alliances over the past four years.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in four decades in its fight for independence for the Basque Country, in northern Spain and southern France, even though polls show most Basques do not want this.

Until now, the issue of Basque separatism had played a relatively minor part in the elections.

The Popular Party, founded by supporters of former dictator Francisco Franco, was four percentage points behind the Socialists on Monday before a pre-electoral ban on publishing opinion polls came into force.