March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party extended its lead over the rival People's Party to 4.1 percentage points less than a week before the March 9 elections, according to a poll published today by El Mundo newspaper.

Zapatero's Socialists would win 43.4 percent support compared with the PP's 39.3 percent if elections were held today, the poll by Sigma Dos indicated. The premier's lead increased from 2.6 percentage points in a Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo published a month earlier. The new result would see Zapatero win between 157 and 171 deputies in the 350-seat parliament.

Today is the final day when newspapers are permitted to publish opinion polls before the vote. Tonight Zapatero and Rajoy will face off in the second televised debate of the campaign. The only polls allowed after the event will focus on who won the exchange rather than any shift in voting intention that results from the debate.

Sigma Dos interviewed 11,000 people between Feb. 20 and March 1 for the El Mundo poll. The margin for error was 1.2 percentage points. The Socialists won the 2004 election with 42.6 percent of the vote to take 164 seats in parliament. The PP won 37.7 percent and 148 seats.

Publico Polls

A separate poll of 7,200 people by Publico newspaper gave Zapatero's party a 4.4-point lead, narrower than the 5.4 percent gap in a Publico poll published Feb. 25 and wider than the 2.5 points in a similar poll a month ago. The Socialists would win 43.9 percent of the vote to the PP's 39.5 percent, the latest poll showed. The survey was conducted between Feb. 18 and March 1 and the margin of error was 1 percentage point.

Instituto Noxa gave Zapatero a lead of 43.5 percent to Rajoy's 39.5 percent in a poll of 1,200 people published in La Vanguardia today. Interviews were conducted between Feb. 26 and Feb. 29 and the margin for error was 2.9 percent.

Cadena Ser said Zapatero would win 43.5 percent to 38 percent in another poll published today. It didn't give details of when the polling was conducted or how many people were consulted.

The following is a list of recent polls. The PSOE is Zapatero's Spanish Socialist Workers Party.

Pollster      Published in     Date Conducted     PSOE     PP

Sigma Dos      El Mundo       Feb. 20-March 1     43.4     39.3
Publico        Publico        Feb. 18-March 1     43.9     39.5
Noxa           La Vanguardia  Feb. 26-Feb. 29     43.5     39.5
DYM            ABC            Feb. 18-Feb. 28     42       40
Metroscopia    El Pais        Feb. 8-Feb. 27      42.9     38.8
Demometrica    Telecinco      Feb. 19-Feb. 26     44.2     38.6
Publico        Publico        Feb. 21-Feb. 23     44.7     39.3
Metroscopia    El Pais        Feb. 22             42.3     38.6
DYM            ABC            Feb. 11-Feb. 21     42       39.2
Publico        Publico        Feb. 18-Feb. 20     44       40
Noxa           Vanguardia     Feb. 8-Feb. 14      43.1     39.1
Publico        Publico        Jan. 7-Feb. 12      42.6     40.1
CIS            CIS            Jan. 21-Feb. 4      40.2     38.7
Metroscopia    El Pais        Feb. 8              41.7     38.8
Sigma Dos      El Mundo       Feb. 4-Feb. 7       41.8     39.2
Publico        Publico        Jan. 21-Jan. 31     44.6     38.2
Metroscopia    El Pais        Jan. 26-Jan. 30     42       38.6
Sigma Dos      El Mundo       Dec. 14-Dec. 26     41.9     39.4
Publico        Publico        Nov. 20-Dec. 21     43       38.5

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sills in Madrid at bsills@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 3, 2008 05:15 EST