Friday, May 29, 2015

The quirks of the Spanish elections

In Algorfa, only 1008 (59.25% of those eligible) turned out to vote. There were just two parties in contention, the PSOE (socialists) and the PP (conservatives). Of the seats available, the PSOE won 6 against the PP with 5 and did so with a margin of 4 votes between them.

Better still, in the hamlet of Felechares de la Valderia only 3% of 163 eligible voters went to cast their ballot. Out of the five ballot papers one was declared null and void because of technical reasons and two more were empty envelopes. That left two votes for the two PP councillors who literally voted themselves into power.

In the town of Villaroya in La Rioja, the polling station opened at 9am and closed at 9:02am. In those two minutes all 9 of the people had voted. They apparently have an agreement to be at the polling station when it opened so that they could be the first to close in the country.

With those sort of figures in mind, it is true to say that every vote counts in Spanish local elections. It doesn't take a lot for a council to change from one party to another

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