23 Jul, 2023 @ 20:04
1 min read

LOW TURNOUT?: Heat keeps voters away in Spain’s general election, but postal votes surge

Pedro Sánchez, president of the Spanish Government and general secretary of the Socialist Party (PSOE), observes how a person in charge of the table enters the vote for the list of the senate into the ballot box in the general elections of Spain, at the College of Our Lady of Good Council, in Madrid. (Photo by Luis Soto / SOPA Images/Sipa USA) *** Local Caption *** 47459210

AS the polling stations close (8pm) it looks like voter turnout has dipped to below 2019 levels as Spaniards had to brave the heat.

By 6pm  turnout stood at 53.12% compared to the 56.85% seen at the same stage in the previous general election, according to the Interior Ministry.

But this figure should be boosted by postal votes which are not included in the percentage given. This year around 2.47 million people have elected to vote by post, a record number as many Spaniards are on holiday.

The Balearic islands, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia, Extremadura and the Canary islands bucked the trend with a rise in turnout, while all other regions, particularly Catalunya, Madrid and the Basque Country have seen a decline.

Some 22,562 polling stations opened at 9a, with many being equipped with fans and cold water for hardy voters who braved the high heats.

Pedro Sánchez votes. (Photo by Luis Soto / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

Sitting PM Pedro Sanchez (PSOE) voted at 9.10am at the Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo school in Madrid. The conservative Partido Popular (PP) opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, cast his vote at 11.30 am at the Ramiro de Maeztu school, also in Madrid.

Preliminary results are expected to be in by around midnight.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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