2nd reminder!

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow and could you please remind your neighbours to do the same!

Why, because all the suggestions indicate that it could be a close run election this time around.

The difficulties that the current council have faced balancing their budget, the electricity cuts at La Paz for example and the lack of favour for the Socialists nationally may signal a change in the views of the local electorate.

The Conservative PP elected Charo Bañuls as their new leader.  By all accounts she is more of a moderate than the previous leader, Aurelio Murcia, who went on to  form his own Centre Right Liberal party which he says lies between the Conservatives and the Socialists. So we have a three horse race.

The Socialists and the UNPLC have campaigned vigorously and kindly provided me with their plans in English which I have linked to from this blog. On the other hand, from what I have seen, the PP seem to have been playing things a little more low key. However, they still remain the main opposition party to the Socialists in Bigastro and are poised to take over control of the town. 

What this all means is that every vote will count.

The turn out at local elections in Spain is normally high (over 80%). With a close run campaign, this figure could be even higher.

Just to remind you again, to vote you need to take:

• some form of photographic identification along with you i.e. passport, driver’s licence or residencia card.
• the voting card you got in the post a few weeks ago

Inside the polling station there will be a table piled high with voting slips for each of the three parties. Each voting slip will have the particular party logo on it and a list of their candidates in order. You need to select the appropriate slip for the party you are voting for - PSOE (socialists), PP (conservatives) or UNPLC (centre right wing liberals).

It is very important not to mark the voting slip because a marked slip is a spoiled vote. Remember you are voting for the party of your choice and not any particular candidate.

Once you have the right slip, place it in one the white envelopes provided, take it to the desk, show your identification and your electoral card, get checked off the list and then place your envelope into the ballot box. That is it!

NB Spain has proportional representation so each of the parties will gain seats on the council in proportion to the number of votes they obtain. Bigastro Town Council has 13 seats to be filled. So for example, if the UNPLC were to get 6/13ths of the votes cast, then the first 6 candidates on their list would be elected as councillors.

The party with the most votes cast for them will have the candidate at the top of their list elected as Mayor i.e. RAUL VALERIO MEDINA LORENTE (PSOE), M ª DEL ROSARIO RODRIGUEZ BAÑULS (PP) or AURELIO MURCIA RODRIGUEZ (UNPLC).