Extended deadlines, places of work open till evening and additional time to dismantle hoaxes about voting by mail

At the very second that, on May 29, Pedro Sánchez introduced that we might vote once more on July 23 to elect our representatives within the Cortes, the inhabitants started to take a look at the calendar to see the way it affected their summer time and trip plans. Many already knew that they had been going to be out and lots of others dealt with it as a risk. That is why it was not stunning that the common of the three% of Spaniards with the proper to vote who ask to take action by mail, rose to 7%, with 2.6 million requests.

The determine, the stress of the Post Office’s capability to face the avalanche; and the fraud makes an attempt with the vote by mail within the regional and municipal elections of May 28; they joined the calls for of the Post Office staff and have become the proper components to manufacture hoaxes and query the Spanish voting system, producing concern amongst quite a few voters whereas the Post Office employed 20,000 individuals and commenced to take measures. .

The straw that broke the camel’s again was a press release by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, by which he insinuated irregularities on the a part of the Post Office commanders when he addressed the postmen and mentioned that they need to work tirelessly “independently of their bosses” and that they need to not fear about additional time, as a result of their first resolution within the Council of Ministers of their hypothetical future authorities could be to pay for them.

That forged extra doubts concerning the process and provoked a forceful response from the unions of the employees of the general public firm, who replied that the officers had been already working tirelessly and that additional time was assured by settlement and budgeted.

Beyond these solutions – and as a lot as Feijóo was fast to say that he had not hinted at a pucherazo – Correos reacted. The deputy director of operations, José Luis Alonso Nistal, started to grant interviews and the corporate made a collection of selections comparable to conserving quite a few places of work open over the past weekend earlier than the elections, or extending the hours of consideration to the general public.

Jose Luis Alonso NistalDiego Radames

After Feijóo’s phrases, reiterated by the final secretary of the PP Cuca Gamarra, Sánchez said that maybe the favored candidate was making ready the bottom in case his calculations failed and he lastly misplaced the elections. If that occurred, voting by mail may very well be excuse. If the PP gained, Sánchez predicted a post-electoral deathly silence on the matter.

The anger subsided shortly, however Correos continued to redouble its efforts and ask its workers to do the identical. The penultimate dedication was to open the places of work till “all” voters who needed to forged their postal vote this Thursday might achieve this, with out specifying hours.

And the very last thing, to ask the Electoral Board for a second extension of the time period to ship the votes, till this Friday at 2:00 p.m., which was granted this Thursday.

The proportion of votes forged reached this Thursday that of the final elections

This Friday would be the final day to deposit these votes, in a time restrict that had by no means been given. But the truth is that on Wednesday evening 91% of the candidates for postal suffrage had already voted, based on the unions. In different phrases, solely 9% remained to take action, 36 hours from the ultimate finish of the time period.

In the elections of May 28 and in these of 2019, the share of people that didn’t vote after requesting the documentation was exactly 9%, so evidently for this 23J, regardless of all suspicions, the share of abstentions can be decrease.

José Luis Nistal assured this Thursday, very first thing within the morning, that within the put up places of work there have been 170,000 envelopes ready for his or her candidates. 280,000 lower than Monday at seven within the night, when there have been 450,000 that some thought-about misplaced votes.

But not. There was time left to gather them and that point has been prolonged at the price of extra hours of consideration for this sort of deliveries, with two targets: to ensure the vote of all those that have requested it and to dismantle the hoaxes concerning the postal electoral course of, which has greater than 40 electoral appointments behind it. Most have had an issue just like the one in Melilla for 28M, the place they tried to purchase votes from postal vote candidates, though it was cushioned.

The hoax of the CERA vote, that of the foreigner

The vote that the 2 million Spaniards residing overseas ship has additionally been hoax fodder. “Alerts” have appeared on social networks about manipulations with this vote that’s recounted after the elections, as dictated by LOREG.

In these warning messages, the suspicious “progress” of the vote overseas was identified, which had elevated by 700% in comparison with 2019. As an instance, they gave Madrid, the place based on them 48,045 votes had been forged in 2019 and in 2023 there had been 337,205. They additionally recalled that lots of the residents are in Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela, and that the PSOE Historical Memory Law authorized the nationalization of the youngsters and grandchildren of those that went into exile in these nations. So placing all of it collectively, they puzzled if that legislation was making ready the bottom for a pot gap.

Well, the reality is that behind {that a} combination of knowledge and a really biased interpretation. To start with, in each circumstances they’re speaking about votes that haven’t but been forged and in addition with out taking one thing essential into consideration: the system has modified.

In 2019, the requested vote was nonetheless in pressure, which meant that Spaniards residing overseas needed to request to vote. That is the determine of 48,045 votes. In 2022, the requested vote disappeared and the system was modified and the vote started to be despatched ex officio to all these registered within the census of residents overseas. The 337,205 had been documentation despatched, not votes forged.

In brief, this sort of vote can be a breeding floor for false info that’s disseminated, primarily, on social networks. Without making an allowance for, furthermore, that participation overseas isn’t very excessive and its outcomes, which we are going to know within the week after 23J, don’t often change the consequence a lot as a result of there aren’t many. Because counting, they depend identical to the remainder.

Topics