EU citizens, resident in Spain and registered to vote, can vote in the Municipal, Autonomous (regional) and European elections to be held on Sunday May 26.
In Spain there is a system of proportional representation and “closed lists” of candidates. It can be confusing so here is a quick guide on how to vote.
AT THE POLLING STATION
When you arrive go to the desk (Mesa Electoral) and show your identity papers (passport) and residency (NIE) in order to identity yourself.
If you are at the wrong polling station the Mesa will direct you to the correct one.
Don´t worry if you haven´t received your voting papers: if you are registered you will be on the list and able to vote.
The Mesa Electoral will examine your papers and check them against the list of people registered to vote.
Voters pass for the Mesa Electoral one by one and then go into the cabin, in the same room, to vote. You may have to wait until the cabin is empty.
Inside the cabin you will find lists of candidates with the party initials or names on top. These are “closed lists” and do not require any “X” or mark by the voter. Just select your list and place in the appropriate envelope.
CLOSED LIST VOTING PAPERS
There will be three rows of different coloured lists: Blue for the European elections; White for the Municipal elections; and Sepia for the autonomous (regional) elections.
The name of the different parties will feature at the top of the lists.
When you have decided which party to vote for, select your list by the name of the party and place it in the envelope of the same colour: Blue for EU; White for Municipal; and Sepia for Regional.
You may vote three times with three different coloured lists and envelopes for the three different elections.
VOTING
When you have selected your lists and placed them in the three different coloured envelopes take them to the Mesa Electoral. The President of the table will facilitate you to placing an envelope in each of the three different urns. Each time you vote he will cover the urn and announce “vota”.
Please remember you are not required to mark the ballot papers in anyway. If you do you will nullify out your vote.
Don´t forget before you vote to check out the Election Special on this website and read the different manifestos for the local elections here in Calasparra. Three of the four main parties have accepted our invitation to publish their manifestos in English. We hope the fourth party will do so before May 26.
