MADRID (AP) — New parties won strong support in Spain's local elections Sunday as voters turned their back on the country's traditional political heavyweights, an exit poll indicated.

The governing conservative Popular Party won the most votes in 11 of 13 regions in the ballot, but grass-root newcomers We Can and Citizens earned seats in almost all the regional governments, according to a poll by television channel Antena 3.

The PP also was set to lose control of Madrid city hall, which it has run for more than 20 years. A coalition of new parties, including We Can, came out top there, the poll indicated.

The elections, for seats in more than 8,100 town halls and parliamentary seats in 13 of Spain's 17 regions, are seen as a barometer for scheduled government elections in the European Union's fifth-largest economy at the end of the year.

In local elections four years ago, the PP snared absolute majorities in eight regional governments, allowing it to run them without making political alliances. This time, it won none outright, the poll said. That means the PP will have to seek pacts with other parties, perhaps leaving the newcomers as powerbrokers.

The numbers confirmed recent opinion polls that the new parties would mount a strong challenge and bring a shift in Spain's political landscape.

In the simultaneous elections for town halls, the PP and the main opposition Socialist Party — which have alternated in government for nearly four decades — won only 53 percent of the nationwide vote, the poll said. That was significantly down from the 65 percent of the vote the pair gathered in the 2011 municipal elections.

There was also an upset in Barcelona, where a popular anti-eviction campaigner backed by We Can was poised to unseat the region's long dominant and conservative Convergence and Union party.

A 23-percent jobless rate, cuts in public services such as health and education, and political corruption scandals have fueled the emergence of new parties offering change.

Spain isn't the first southern European country to witness a shift in the political center of gravity since Europe's debt crisis prompted governments to slash public spending. In recent years, the traditional parties of governments in Italy and Greece have also seen their influence eroded by new — and often radical — choices.

In Spain, corruption scandals dogging the two mainstream parties have fueled to voter disaffection with business-as-usual choices.

The turnout was 49 percent of the country's 35 million eligible voters, roughly the same as in the last local elections.

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Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.