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MADRID – The participation rate in Spain’s national elections appears to have dropped on Sunday afternoon, with 52.94 percent of voters casting their ballots as of 6 p.m., nearly four percentage points below those who registered at the same hour in the November 2019 elections.
Turnover was greater in the first hours of the day, and others 40.48 percent of the electorate Voting by 2pm, three percent ahead of the same hour in 2019.
Given the very hot in Spain, many people were expected to take action during the hottest part of the day. Pollsters believe polling rates will rise in the afternoon, when temperatures start to cool.
The current participation count does not include mail-in votes, which could boost the finalists even more. Spaniards have chosen to vote by mail in the election, the first to be held this summer, when more than a quarter of registered voters are on holiday. Others 2.47 million ballots are organized by the government post office; those votes are already in the polling stations but will be counted at the end of the day.
More than 37 million Spaniards were registered to vote in these elections, who will see if the country continues to be governed by the left-wing coalition led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, or if instead the peaks of power will pass through the center-right Popular Party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the candidate who is open to form a government with the right-wing Vox party.
Traffic jams on the roads leading to Spain’s major cities show that many voters will wait until midday to return from their holiday destinations to polling stations. In Spain the General Directorate for Traffic (DGT) said difficulties in the direction to Madrid of the highways A3 and A5, which connect Extremadura and parts of the Mediterranean coast to the capital. Heavy traffic was reported on the main roads connecting the coastal towns of Huelva and Cádiz to Seville.
The suspension of high-speed rail services on the line connecting Valencia to Madrid led to the final debate in the election covered by. conspiracy beliefs. Several politicians from the Popular Party went on television to say that the disruption, which Spain’s railways regulator confirmed was caused by a fire near Xátiva, was staged by the authorities to prevent voters from voting.
“Many people from Madrid are returning today from the beaches of Valencia by high-speed rail to vote,” tweeted Raphael Hernando, senator of the National Party. “But they can’t because of the ‘big event’ on the line.”
Even the passengers concerned at first he complained that they were not provided with other means of transportation, by the afternoon of the Spanish government railway. he said that travel solutions were provided to all ticket holders.
Polling stations in mainland Spain remain open until 8pm tonight, with the first results expected at 9pm, when polls close in the Canary Islands.
One place where the voting process has already ended is the village of Villarroya, where all seven registrants voted within 25 seconds of the polls opening this morning. The small village, located in the province of La Rioja, has been proud to be the fastest in Spain to complete the election; this time he managed to achieve that goal in three seconds less than last May’s election.