Spanish Election Day - 28A

We live in interesting times in an interesting place – especially in terms of politics. Since we arrived here, Spain has experienced a constitutional crisis with the Rajoy government suspending Catalunya’s autonomy in October 2017; and then in June 2018 with Rajoy’s government succumbing to the first ever no-confidence vote after a massive corruption scandal. Today is a “snap election” called by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after his Socialist party led government could not get majority support for the proposed budget. Spain’s political situation is extremely fragmented like everywhere else. We’ve been following the campaign and thought we’d share a few observations about how the system works here.

First some basics: Spain has a parliamentary system like many democracies. There are several different political parties. Initially, the two biggest political parties dominated the post-Franco democracy – (1) Partido Popular (PP), the more conservative party, and (2) Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE), the more liberal party. But more recently, neither party has been able to achieve a majority in the Legislature and therefore must seek to form a coalition.

Second, the concept of a “campaign” here is entirely different. Unlike in the US, where the 2020 campaign for President is underway, there was only a one-month period of actual campaign activity. And overall, the amount of in-your-face campaigning was quite limited. A few bus-stop and other posters. Some newspaper and nightly news coverage, but nothing like the US.

Today, I went to observe the voting process. Once again, I relied on the kindness of our friend, neighbor, and former teacher Begona. I asked if I could tag along to witness first-hand how the Spaniards cast their votes. We walked over to the local school where their designated polling station was set up. Rather than receiving a ballot and entering a voting booth, voters selected the slip of their preferred political party to place in an envelope for the main Congressional vote. (This is the vote that will decide who gets the opportunity to form the government.) It reminded me of the Israeli election process, which I witnessed with my first-cousin 2 decades ago. Here are 4 samples of many of the slips used:

Voters also completed the ballot for the Senate, the upper house, in which you can select up to three candidates who do not have to belong to the same party. Each province elects four senators, and this is the only time that Spaniards vote for individuals instead of a party list. Once marked the ballot is put into a separate envelope. This ballot sheet shows that there were candidates from 12 different political parties here in Gipuzkoa:

So, the first thing that’s interesting is that I easily picked up these voting materials even though I have no right to vote here. In California, where we voted for most of our lives, to get your ballot when voting in person, a poll worker confirms your name and address. In Washington, where everyone votes by mail, you received your ballot by mail. Here, you take your envelopes to your designated table (based on mailing address) and present your identification. Once they confirm that you are on the voter list, and cross you off the list, you place your envelopes in the designated ballot boxes. It was quick and easy.

Most interesting to me is that the entire process is manual. There are no machines involved – either in the marking or counting of the ballots. When the polls close at 8 p.m., each table’s designated team of three people will count the votes from the two ballot boxes by hand.

Also, of note, each table’s officials are citizens who have been randomly selected and have an obligation to serve as electoral officials. It is similar to jury duty in the US, but there are very few acceptable excuses. In addition, officials from the various political parties have the right to be present during the day and during the counting process.

As I write this post, the level of participation in this election has been high - at least 10% higher than the 2016 election. For the first time, a far-right party, Vox, is going to earn seats in the Legislature.

The good news is that this evening we have been able to understand the reporting on the election results as they are being provided. Big points for our Spanish language education.

We’ll see where this all ends up in the coming days. But overall, democracy is a messy process. 

Hasta pronto, 

Shana and Jeff