14-F is underway with all polling stations open
Foreign Affairs Minister argues that election day can be held as planned
The most atypical election day in recent times has begun. It begins in those polling stations that have been able to open, which, against all odds, are most of them. Therefore, despite the fact that the elections began with less than 70% of the polling stations set up, at 10 a.m. (the deadline for opening the polling stations) the figure was over 99%, a very similar percentage to that of the 2017 elections. This was explained by Bernat Solé, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Generalitat of Catalonia, defending it as "very favourable data". By now, the 1,939 polling stations distributed throughout the country have already been set up.
"We can hold an election day with complete normality", said the Minister. Above all, he said, because he hoped that in the next few minutes the data on the number of open polling stations (as recorded by the official 14-F application) would improve, and because it was possible that some of those that were not open had been set up, but had not been officially notified.
The polling stations that took the longest to be constituted were in the Barcelona demarcation. Girona and Lleida registered full opening at 10 a.m., and Tarragona registered 100% shortly thereafter. In Barcelona, on the other hand, more than 1% of polling stations had not yet opened. The Minister explained to Rac1 that, specifically, there were 54 polling stations for which they had no information. In fact, in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, the second most populated municipality in Catalonia, at half past ten almost 10% of the polling stations had still not been set up or at least not certified; in a press release, the City Council assured that all of them were functioning.
Pending allegations
The Minister of the Catalan Government had anticipated an hour before the opening of the schools to Tv3 TV channel that no incidences were being detected, although they would wait until 9 in the morning to evaluate the situation. He was sure, however, that they had all the necessary members in order for them to be constituted. In total there are 27,417 people summoned as incumbents and some 54,800 as alternates.
Until Friday, however, the Electoral Boards had received more than 35,600 allegations from people who did not want to be part of the polling stations, according to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). Of these, more than 65% have been admitted, but 3,700 remained to be resolved. Due to the complications that this could entail, the Central Electoral Board shielded itself by ruling that the people summoned as substitutes of a polling table could be called to act as vocal or president in another voting school.
Beyond this, the day will also be unique in terms of the police deployed. The total of 14.200 agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra and local police that have to control security constitute the biggest police force for an election. Miquel Sàmper, Home Affairs Minister of the Generalitat, has described it as historic. "It is the most ambitious in the history of democracy", he said in statements to the media. In total, 10,200 agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra and 4,000 local police will be mobilized.
Correos has also activated an unusual number of workers to deliver postal votes to polling stations: 1,648 workers and all the vehicles in its fleet in Catalonia. A first team will deliver the votes, a second will deliver the votes received during the day, and a third team will collect the final result.