Steady Voting Reported As Spain Goes To The Polls

Despite the blistering summer heat a steady stream of voters have been casting their vote since polling stations  opened this morning, Sunday 23rd July.

Some 37 million Spaniards are eligble to vote to decide the composition of the country´s next parliament.

In the Communidad de Madrid some 5.2 million Madrileños will be able to vote in the regions 7,118 polling stations.

The Madrid region elects 37 of the 350 deputies in the Congress of Deputies ( lower house) and 4 senators to the Senate ( upper house)  that make up the Madrid constituency. 

Deputies are elected by the D’Hondt method of proportional representation with closed lists in each constituency.

Since the adoption of the 1978 constitution, Spain has 50 multi-member constituencies for the Congress of Deputies representing the country´s 50 provinces in addition to the two single-member constituencies of the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Spanish law only allows for nationals ( not foreign born residents) to vote in General Elections.

Among the Madrid regions 5.2 million eligible voters there are over 230,000 who have turned 18 since the last elections in 2019 and voting for the first time.

Around 10% of votes have already been sent by postal ballot in Madrid region which is a  much higher tally than other parts of the country.

In all some 2.6 million Spaniards have already voted by post.

The vote is expected to be a tight one though the conservative Partido Popular are expected to be the biggest party, having made sizeable gains in the municipal elections in May.

It was the May result which triggered Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez´s  decision to call a snap election in the hope of galvanising the left to overcome the recent Partido Popular and Vox surge.

The most recent opinion polls put the put the PP on 33%-35% of the vote and the PSOE Socialists around  29%. Vox and Sumar are almost neck and neck on 12.5-13.5%.