VOTERS HEAD TO THE POLLS AS SPAIN HEATS UP

The new electoral day in Spain passes with total normality. | Photo: EFE

Sun 23 July 2023:

Polls open in Spain in a potentially close-run general election marred by the prospect of a far-right government.

Voting opens at 9am (07:00 GMT) and closes at 8pm (18:00 GMT), after which exit polls will be released.

Experts say the final result is expected to be decided by less than a million votes and fewer than 10 seats in the 350-seat parliament.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the snap election after the left’s poor performance in local and regional elections in May.

Opinion polls have projected a win for the centre-right Partido Popular (PP), but to form a government, it will need to partner with the far-right Vox, which would be the first time a far-right party had entered government since Francisco Franco’s dictatorship ended in the 1970s.

In Sunday’s vote, 37.4 million eligible Spaniards will be able to cast their votes in mainland Spain.

All 350 seats in the lower house of parliament will be up for grabs, along with 208 of the 265 seats in the upper house.

In voting for the lower house, voters will pick a party rather than a specific candidate, while in the upper house, they can choose a maximum of three regional senators.

Whoever wins has three weeks to be formally constituted, and King Felipe VI will meet party leaders who will nominate a candidate to lead the country.

Reporting from Spain, journalist Alasdair Fotheringham, says Spain’s unusual weather will be a main talking point during Sunday’s election.

Much of Europe is experiencing extreme heat, with Spain’s Andalusia expected to reach an eyewatering 41 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) this afternoon.

“Turn-out is expected to be high in the early morning and shortly before polls close at 8 pm local time as voters try to avoid the heat. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to be one of the first of the top political figures to vote at around 9 am in Madrid,” Fotheringham explained.

He added that Spanish newspapers have highlighted the importance of the elections, which are being described as an ideological battle.

“El País, the country’s biggest selling paper, has a short headline underlining how these elections could prove to be a real game changer for the country’s politics: “Spain votes with vertigo,” he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent