MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Socialists kept the lead in voting intentions ahead of the April 28 election, a GAD3 poll for the ABC newspaper showed on Wednesday, but were still short of a parliamentary majority, even with backing from far-left allies Podemos.

The latest voting intention surveys illustrate how deeply Spain’s political system is torn between five parties as the country heads in to a bitterly fought parliamentary election.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists would win between 136 and 139 seats, the poll of 2,000 people taken from April 9 to 15 showed, short of a majority in the 350-seat parliament and compared with a range of 137 to 139 of the previous GAD3 poll on April 11.

Unidos Podemos would take 28 to 32 seats, the poll showed, placing a potential left-wing alliance closer, but below the 176 seats necessary for a overall majority in the lower house and highlighting the razor-thin margins ahead of the election.

The poll showed the conservative People’s Party (PP) would take 82 to 86 seats, while market friendly Ciudadanos may take 393 to 41 seats, and far-right Vox, 30 to 34 seats, gathering pace from 25 to 29 in a previous poll.