The blow in the elections this Sunday, May 28, has been so hard that Pedro Sánchez has not taken 24 hours to call new elections. The President of the Government has summoned the Spanish for next July 23, in what will be the first generals in history to be held in summer.
The first suffrage of democracy was the constituent of June 15, 1977. In that same month, general elections were also called in 1986, 1993 and 2016. Other months in which votes have been voted have been March (1979), October (1982 and 1989), November (2011 and 2019), December (2015) and April (2019).
July and August had always been respected, until now. That a good part of the Spaniards concentrate their vacations on these dates had avoided elections in the middle of summer. But to the surprise of his own and strangers, Sánchez has opted for an unusual date to pass his particular revalidation after the uncontested victory of the PP in the municipal elections.
The announcement made this Monday morning has already generated a cascade of doubts about many citizens. Being able to vote in the census tract itself can be difficult if someone is traveling to town to see family or is thousands of kilometers away enjoying an exotic destination.
For this reason, it is already expected that voting by mail can be triggered, an option that almost a million Spaniards opted for in 2019. The call for general elections is carried out by royal decree. In the current case, which are anticipated, the President of the Government has to previously dissolve the Cortes Generales.
The possibility of being a member of a polling station has also begun to generate a certain buzz. These are formed through a public lottery among all the people registered in each municipality, who can read, write and are under 70 years of age.
This raffle -in which a president, two members and their respective substitutes are selected- is the responsibility of the City Council of each town and is carried out between 25 and 29 days after the call. People who have been chosen are notified within three days after the lottery.
In other words, the people who have to be part of a polling station for the June 2023 general elections will find out their luck at the end of June, when many families already have plans made for their vacations and even plane tickets. bought.
Those citizens who have been selected and want to resign have a period of seven days to claim before the Zone Electoral Board a justified and documented cause that prevents them from accepting the assignment. Then a resignation letter must be presented along with the necessary supporting documents.
A priori, having a scheduled trip is not one of the reasons that allows you to decline your presence at the polling station. If the consequent allegation before the Electoral Board does not have the desired effect, the vacations can be cancelled. If there is already a part paid, you can claim the return according to the general conditions of sale, although it could be the case that not all the money advanced is recovered.
Among the causes accepted to resign from the polling station are being over 65 years of age, being on certified sick leave, having a risk pregnancy, being an inmate in a penitentiary center or having previously been part of a polling station (at least three times in the last ten years).
The care of children under eight years of age or people with a disability is also an exemption. The same happens with the fathers or mothers of minors under 14 years of age if it can be proven that no one can take care of them during election day. It is even useful to have family events such as weddings, baptisms or communions that cannot be postponed.
Holding elections in the middle of summer is so unusual that the only known precedents are the Galician and Basque regional elections in 2020, which were delayed from April to July due to the coronavirus pandemic. In those elections, participation fell by more than four points in Galicia and almost 10 points in the Basque Country.
