2023-07-23 19:39:00
BARCELONA.- After the polls close at 8:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. in Argentina), began in Spain the counting of the ballots in one of the more tense and polarized general elections that are remembered The publication of the exit polls provoked satisfaction and confidence in the headquarters of the PP, since they augur a clear victory for its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. On the other hand, the data was received with concern among socialist militants, since it seems difficult for the current progressive government led by Pedro Sanchez, the first coalition since the return of democracy. However, the first results showed a much tighter scenario, with the ruling party leading the count by a few points.
With 40% of the votes counted, the PSOE leads the way, with 32.86% of the votes compared to 30.80% for the PP. Vox remains in third place with 12.26%, followed closely by Sumar, with 11.79%. With these numbers, the ruling party of Pedro Sánchez would obtain 131 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, where the country’s presidency is defined, while Feijóo’s PP would obtain 129 seats. The ultra-right party would stay with 32 deputies (30 less than it had) and the new agglomerate of the left would launch its presence in the lower house with 30 seats.
As soon as the polls closed, the public television poll gave the PP between 145 and 150 deputies, which added to the between 24 and 27 from Vox, gave the right-wing bloc an absolute majority, or they placed it so close that with a partner, like the Canarian nationalists, it could reach it. In Spain, the magic number that opens the Moncloa gate is 176, which guarantees an absolute majority in a chamber with 350 deputies.
As for the other parties, the poll gave the PSOE between 113 and 118 deputies, and Sumar, the heir platform of the leftist United We Can between 28 and 31 deputies. The regionalist parties would obtain between 32 and 34 deputies, being the most voted Esquerra Republicana de Cataluña, and EH Bildu, both members of the PSOE. The poll of the private Tele5 moved in very similar figures.
Pedro Sánchez leaves his polling place in MadridEmilio Morenatti – AP
Feijóo faced these elections as the great favourite, supported by polls that did not question his victory over Sánchez, but that he could achieve a sufficient majority with the support of Vox. This same photograph is the one offered by the exit polls, carried out today. In the low band of the results of PP and Vox, they would not reach an absolute majority, and a blockage could occur leading to a electoral repetition. In any case, during the last few years, only when scrutinized data is already available, around 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. in Argentina) definitive assessments can be made.
The contest turned out to be a fierce struggle between two blocs, the one on the left, made up of the PSOE and Sumar, and the one on the right, made up of PP and Vox. However, while Sánchez and Yolanda Diazvice president of the government and candidate for Sumar, exhibited their harmony during the campaign, the relationship between Feijóo and the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, was much more ambiguous. In fact, in the last week of the campaign, Feijóo asked the public for a large majority so as not to have to depend on any “extremism”.
According to analysts, the stake It was called to be a key piece of information in unprecedented elections, since never before had general elections been called in the heat of heat, with half the country on the beach. In theory, the current legislature should end in December, but unexpectedly President Sánchez decided to call advanced elections after the progressive disaster at the polls in May.
Electoral officials empty a ballot box to count the votes at a polling station in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, July 23, 2023Alvaro Barrientos – AP
To a large extent, that result was explained by the demobilization of a part of the progressive electorate, since participation at the state level was only 53%, but it was even lower in some socialist strongholds. Hence the main objective of the PSOE in the campaign was to activate their voters fueling fear of the entry of the “extreme right” of Vox into the Government at the hands of the PP, as happened in various autonomies and hundreds of town halls after the local elections.
If it is compared with the data of the last contest, the evolution of participation was irregular. While at 14, participation rose to 40%, almost three points more than in 2019, at 18, it was 53%, four points less. At that time, the accesses to the big cities, such as Madrid and Barcelona, suffered great traffic jams, with many citizens trying to arrive before the closing time of the polls, at 8:00 p.m. Participation fell especially in Catalonia, more than 10 points, where a part of the independence movement has opted to abstain as a protest measure.
Election day passed without major incidents. Perhaps the main one was a breakdown in the high-speed train line between Valencia and Madrid that left more than 5000 people blocked. Some of them went to their place of origin to be able to vote, which caused some scenes of chaos and tension in the stations of the two cities. “Renfe has mobilized trains and 2,000 of the 3,500 affected so far are already traveling. We have all the means activated to guarantee mobility, ”the Minister of Transportation, Raquel Sánchez, wrote on her Twitter account.
The electoral campaign, which in Spain lasts two weeks, was a kind of roller coaster for the two main candidates. Sánchez started it disappointingly, with a resounding defeat in his face to face with Feijóo, the only one of the campaign. The television debate nipped in the bud the comeback story promoted by Moncloa. However, Feijóo’s mistakes in the last week, in which he talked about his old friendship with a drug trafficker, once again encouraged the socialist ranks.
In a country that is restoring economic growth After being one of the hardest hit by the pandemic -unemployment stands at 13%-, the economy took a secondary place. The question of post-election pacts He was the one who monopolized the public debate. While Sánchez warned of the danger of “entering the dark tunnel of the past”, and what this could mean for the rights acquired by minorities and women, Feijóo reproached him for his pacts with the peripheral nationalist parties.
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