The Parliamentary election in Spain on Sunday will take place in Summer Vacationwhich led to more than two million people to vote by maila high figure that fed fears of manipulationexploited by the right and the extreme right.
Before the record hot temperatures in the country, some 2.6 million people applied to vote by mailwhich represents 6.9% of the total of 37.7 million voters, an unprecedented figure in this country where voting is not compulsory.
The interest was such that the Electoral Board decided this Thursday, deadline, “extend the deadline for delivery by voters of the voting envelopes at the Post Office until Friday”to “facilitate to the maximum the right of suffrage of the citizens”.
Elections in Spain 2023
Adults of legal age are the most affected when it comes to voting in person. Among the difficulties is the lack of air conditioners and fans in the classrooms where the ballot boxes are installed to vote.
Extreme risk due to heat wave
Several Spanish regions were this week in red alert for “extreme risk” by a heat wave, which caused a forest fire that has already incinerated 3,500 hectares on an island in the Canary Islands.
It is expected that the temperatures oscillate between 38 and 42 °C in much of the center of the Iberian Peninsula, but they could reach 43 or 44 °C in the east of the country, in the regions of Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands, according to the Meteorology Statal Agency (Aemet).
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In those regions, Aemet recommended people stay inside their homes in the hottest hours of the day and cool off with wet towels.
Voting by mail in Spain
Since the campaign began, the opposition has cast doubt on the ability of the postal service to meet the high demand, hinting that votes could go uncounted.
“I ask the postmen of Spain to work to the maximum, morning, afternoon and night and, even if they do not have enough reinforcements, to know that they are guarding something that is sacred to the Spanish, which is their vote”affirmed last week the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, favorite in the polls.
The head of the far-right formation Vox, Santiago Abascal, said on Tuesday that he was “extraordinarily concerned”, since in his opinion the postal service has not had the necessary “means”. This is added to “the bad intention of calling elections in the vacation period of the Spaniards,” he added.
Source: Ambito
