Spanish Election 23/7/23

 

As someone who has voted in every available election since I turned 18, I was highly curious about the election that took place yesterday in Spain. There had been a bit of a kerfuffle when the date of the "Snap" election was announced since it is vacation season in Spain. Would people turn out? The answer is yes. 

Yesterday was Sunday the date of the election. We took lunch in a little café in the park near our new place. As we sat surrounded by our new neighbors, savoring the shade and snacking our way through the café menu * a constant stream of voters was headed into a school visible from our table. It seemed that all schools were polling places like in the US. 

Service was slow, this is customary in Spain as the time spent chatting at the table is sacred. There is even a word for it "Sobremesa". It literally means over the table. But service was exceptionally slow. We even witnessed several groups of people sit at dirty recently vacated tables only to get up and leave 15 minutes later after not receiving any kind of service. The one gentleman working made the comment to several tables that he was the only one working because of the vote. We had nowhere to be and it was our first outing in our new neighborhood so I didn't mind lounging at the table for several hours taking in the scene.

We can attest that most establishments were closed. As we walked around town the sidewalks were as busy as I would expect for a Sunday with pleasant weather. The one difference was that everything was closed. This held true even in the bustling weekend shopping areas. Only the occasional café or bar were open, like the one we took refuge in. We saw a corner store was open on the way home and grabbed a few essentials to get through the evening not believing that anything would be open later.

I read earlier in the week that Spain saw the highest amount of mail in ballots in history. Of the 2.47 million ballots requested only 130,000 were not returned. In person voting seemed high compared to voting in the USA. The lowest percentage of eligible citizens for any municipality was 59% with the majority of locations coming in on or above the 70% mark. There was 1 story yesterday about a small town where they broke a record for all citizens voting in 6 minutes. It seems like it may be a point of pride to have 100% and shortest poling time We will have to watch next time to see if there is a similar story. 

At this point all votes have been counted and the results are in. No party won outright. Now the politicians have to work together to come up with a coalition of parties to form a functional government. By all accounts it could take several weeks to a couple of months for the coalition to coalesce. Life was back to normal this morning. 

* Artichokes with aioli and crispy ham, Potatoes Bravas (Roasted til crispy potato chunks topped with ketchup, mayo, medium spicy pepper of some variety and chives...definitely a thing in Zaragoza, every place sells them), Empanada with a savory tuna and tomato filling, and chicken with bar-b-que sauce. Fanta's all around to drink. 2 orange and 1 lemon.