Participation drops to 53.1% at 6:00 pm, four points lower than in 2019

The participation rate in the general elections reached 53.1% at six in the evening, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. And in the most recent general election, in November 2019, turnout rose to 56.85%. Thus, they are almost four points lower. The figure contrasts with An increase of 2.56 points awarded at 2:00 p.m..

Catalonia, down 11 points in participation, to 48.68%, is the lowest place.

The data does not include voting by mail

This data does not include voting by mail, which in this election set a historic record and is added at the end of the day. More than 2.47 million voters deposited their ballots at the post office for the J23 election, accounting for 94.2% of accepted applications, the highest percentage recorded in a general election since 2008, the first year with certified statistical records.

By autonomy, Cantabria had the highest participation, with 60.44%, followed by the Valencian region (57.93%) or La Rioja (57.11%). Anyway, where the vote grows the most at 6:00 pm is Galicia, with an additional 2.7 points, up to 55.96%. On the other hand, the aforementioned Catalonia, Madrid (-7.81 points against 53.69%) or the Basque Country (-5.18 points against 52.42%) were the most declining.

In Madrid participation is about 8 points lower

In total, 37.5 million citizens have been called to go to the polls. They will not face major setbacks because 100% of the 60,314 planned polling stations were set up normally, according to Home Office data. With them all forming at 10.20am, the last to be set up are those in the Canary Islands, where schools open an hour later, and one in the Basque Country.

The big candidates have voted first thing in the morning. Pedro Sanchez was the first to wake up, minutes into Election Day.