A citizen casts his vote at the Spanish Consulate General in Caracas.
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Only 989 Spanish citizens residing in Venezuela voted in the general elections, which were held in Spain this Sunday, November 10. The act that included this semblance was signed by the consul general and the deputy consul general of Spain in Caracas, Juan José Buitrago de Benito and Julio Navas López, respectively; consular officials Luis Álvaro González Rodríguez, Jesús Gago López, Antonio Palma Sánchez and Víctor Monge Uga.
As witnesses of the political parties they signed Serafín Pellón Espiñeira, Secretary of Organization of the PSOE in Venezuela; José Antonio Alejandro, president of the Popular Party (PP) in Venezuela; Maryam Méndez Hernández of the Coalition Canaria Venezuela, Óscar Vila Martínez representing Vox; and a representative in Venezuela from Unidas-Podemos.
The Consulate General of Spain in Caracas opened its doors on Wednesday 6, Thursday 7 and Friday 8, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and extraordinarily, by order of extension in the period of receipt of votes by the Central Electoral Board (JEC), on Saturday 9 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and on the day of the election itself, Sunday, November 10, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., motivated by the special bag content with the minutes and the votes they had to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (MAEC) and from there to the respective Provincial Electoral Boards for inclusion in the count.
Initially, the vote count of Spaniards living abroad is expected to be counted after the general vote count, that is, on the third day after the voting day, on Wednesday, November 13.
‘Chronicles of Emigration’ was able to learn that 4,281 requests for votes were accepted (645 more than in the previous elections on April 28) of Spanish citizens registered in the Absent Resident Electoral Census (CERA) by Venezuela (3.45 percent ), having the right to vote 123,989 Spaniards residing in the Ibero-American country (6,284 less than in April 2019), where in the ordinary period (until Friday, November 8), 652 citizens voted in the ballot box arranged at the Consulate General in Caracas , and 85 suffrage by mail for a total of 737, where 20 did the same for Andalusia (2 for Almería, 2 for Cádiz, 2 for Granada, 7 for Malaga and 7 for Seville); for Aragón 3 (1 for Teruel and 2 for Zaragoza); 22 for Asturias; 283 for the Canary Islands (17 for Las Palmas and 266 for Santa Cruz de Tenerife); 5 for Cantabria; 14 for Castilla y León (1 for Burgos, 6 for León, 1 for Palencia, 1 for Salamanca, 3 for Valladolid and 2 for Zamora); 1 for Castilla-La Mancha (Guadalajara); 25 for Catalonia (22 for Barcelona, 1 for Girona, and 2 for Tarragona); 6 for the Valencian Community (1 for Castellón, and 5 for Valencia); 1 for Extremadura (Badajoz); 256 for Galicia (72 for A Coruña, 28 for Lugo, 69 for Ourense and 87 for Pontevedra); 3 for the Balearic Islands; 4 for La Rioja; 71 for Madrid; 1 for Melilla; 1 for Murcia; 2 by Navarra; 19 for the Basque Country (3 for Álava, 10 for Vizcaya; and 6 for Guipúzcoa).
In the extraordinary period (November 10), 215 people voted in person at the Consulate General of Spain in Caracas and 37 by mail for a total of 252 ballots, where 1 vote was for the province of Teruel (Aragon); 4 by the Principality of Asturias; 114 votes for the Canary Islands, where 6 went to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 108 for Santa Cruz de Tenerife; 1 for Burgos, 1 for León, 2 for Palencia (Castilla y León); 9 for Barcelona (Catalonia); 31 for A Coruña, 7 for Lugo, 37 for Ourense and 28 for Pontevedra (Galicia); 1 for the Balearic Islands; 9 by the Community of Madrid; 1 for the Region of Murcia; and finally 1 by Vizcaya (Basque Country).
Worldwide, 2,130,737 Spaniards abroad were registered in the CERA and only 223,872 (10.51 percent) were accepted for applications.
The system of the LOREG (Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime), which determines the ‘requested’ vote, in short, generates little participation. The Cortes will have to pilot a process that seeks a formula from the consensus to create an electoral demarcation abroad, and for this the Constitution must be modified; or the application of electronic systems through the Internet, or other possibilities that make participation easier.
The representatives of PP, PSOE, CC and Unidas-Podemos in Venezuela called on the new government to be elected in Spain to register initiatives together with the other political parties to repeal the requested vote, modify the LOREG and be able to vote at the ballot box, in the same conditions, the Spanish residents abroad.
At the same time, all the representatives of these Spanish political forces in Venezuela reiterated in congratulating the Consul General, his Deputy Consul and all the officials and staff of the Spanish Consulate General in Caracas, for their willingness and invaluable collaboration so that the days of the electoral party will develop very positively.
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