Turnout by voters across Spain on election day is 1.55 points up compared to 2019

Image of a person putting a paper into the ballot box in Spain.

Image of a person putting a paper into the ballot box in Spain. Credit: Zerbor/shutterstock.com

According to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, this Sunday, May 28, participation in the municipal and regional elections across Spain has risen by 1.55 points compared to the turnout in 2019.

As reported by Francesc Vallès, the Secretary of State for Communication, and Isabel Goicoechea, the Under-Secretary of State, at 2 pm, the turnout rate was 36.69 per cent, 1.59 per cent higher than in the previous municipal elections.

By 6 pm, a total of 51.4 per cent of the population – 17.5 million citizens – that is entitled to vote had already done so. This was compared to 49.93 per cent who turned out four years ago.

A notable incident occurred at the Escola Marta Mata polling station in Barcelona. In a statement, Eva Parera, the leader of the Valents political party and mayoral candidate of the city, claimed that ballot papers for their candidate had been left in their boxes, as reported by antena3.com.

They “were not placed in the polling stations until after three o’clock in the afternoon”, she insisted. The complaint was duly transferred to the members of the polling stations, the Electoral Board, and the police, as a: “serious act of violation of the rights of voters”.

In another incident that took place in the Dos Hermanos district of Sevilla, a woman was caught by National Police officers on duty near a polling station with envelopes said to contain 102 PSOE ballot papers.

The culprit was identified in the vicinity of the Fernán Caballero school. It was verified that she was not an auditor of said party and that it was not her place to vote in that particular polling station.

A tragedy occurred in the city of Palencia in northern Spain where a 96-year-old man died after casting his vote at the Jorge Manrique school polling station. According to a spokesperson from the Government sub-delegation, the incident took place at around 1:40 pm.

In the Almeria municipality of Adra, two PSOE party members were attacked at the gates of the polling station by a person who was driving an electric scooter reportedly displaying Francoist symbols.

The party condemned the ‘very serious’ event and called for: ‘the utmost respect and consideration towards the representatives of the political parties on an election day that, until then, was developing normally’.

As reported by the Valencia Provincial Firefighters Consortium, a polling station in the Valencian town of Paterna was temporarily cordoned off due to falling masonry.

Firefighters attended the scene at the intersection of Calles Santa Gema and Juan de Austria at around 12:30 pm. They promptly dealt with the situation that involved rubble falling from a height of around 10 metres onto the street near the voting point, according to levante-emv.com.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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