Everything is in place for 23-J, the first general election in July

Everything is in place for the first general election in July. And the government is confident that normal will be the guideline for election day this Sunday, when 37.5 million voters have been called to the polls, 1.6 million of them young first-time voters. “We have all the devices so that everything works as always, correctly,” announced the Minister of State for Communications, Francesc Valles, Saturday, at the press appearance in which he introduced the electoral apparatus. “We have a robust, secure and well-designed electoral system,” he added from the National Data Dissemination Center, at the IFEMA fairgrounds in Madrid, the same place where events, citizen participation data and interim results for election day this Sunday will be published. Regarding possible incidents, such as delays in forming polling stations due to a lack of members or chairs or other heat issues, Vallis stressed the “total readiness” of government delegations and sub-delegations to provide “as many resources as possible” so that the day flows “as normally as possible.” More than 2.47 million votes have already been deposited at the post office, according to the company’s final data. This figure represents a historic record in Spanish democracy.

The appearance of the electoral machine – which does not exceed eight minutes and in which the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Isabel Goicochea – took part – led to a review of all components of the electoral machinery, which began again on Sunday. More than 22,000 polling stations across Spain – with 60,314 polling stations and 51,000 polling booths – are now ready to receive votes in the 210,000 ballot boxes. Of the 37.5 million voters, 1.6 million will vote for the first time and 2.3 million residents will cast their ballots from abroad. In this election, the 16th general election, 350 deputies to Congress and 208 senators are elected. To this end, 549 candidates for the House of Representatives and 544 candidates for the Senate were put forward.

The first broad list of thanks is addressed to the 180,000 people appointed as polling station chairmen and members, who will lead the process tomorrow. “As usual, they will proceed to count each ballot from their tables one by one during the public scrutiny,” noted Vallis, who expressed his gratitude to the 362,000 people who had been called as an alternative to avoiding “any mishap” that might occur at the start of the electoral process. In recent weeks, some municipalities They had difficulties finding polling station members who are appointed by lot to play this role. In Avila (57,730 inhabitants) they have made a new lottery because they have excused a large number of people who have made claims. In Pontevedra or A Coruña, attempts to locate that particular one are multiplied.

She continues to thank, via party observers, the more than 90,000 members of the National Police, Civil Guard and Independent Police, who will ensure security and physical protection on election day.

“Great Work” by Correos

Like polling station members, Curios’ work was held in special esteem. “He did a great job of public responsibility in the face of the large number of mail-in vote requests,” Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, Isabel Goicoechea, confirmed. The public company announced Saturday that it had accepted 2.47 million votes, 94.2% of the accepted applications. The number represents the highest implementation of mail-in voting in this type of election since 2008, the first year since the numbers were available. This number of votes by mail also represents the historical record of Spanish democracy. The company congratulated itself in a statement, “It indicates the great success in managing mail-in voting.”

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The difference between voting requests and votes that were finally deposited reached 5%, which is the lowest percentage in electoral processes, according to company data. In the April 2019 general election, the percentage was 7.8%. In the June 2016 election it was 6.6% and the average for all general elections is 7.3%. During election day, Correos will deploy a special staff of 14,000 to present votes at polling stations across Spain.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, visited the National Data Dissemination Center this morning, which is where the information for tomorrow’s election day will be presented. There will be four appearances. On the first, at 10:30, the configuration of schedules and events will be reported. At 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., electoral turnout data will be presented and, starting at 10:30 p.m., the Minister’s Spokesperson, Isabel Rodriguez, and the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, will present the first preview of the results. Throughout the day, you can follow the data available through the site General Results 23J An app has also been created.

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