Catalan Government assures that all polling stations will be constituted

No polling station will remain to be established on 14 February. This is according to the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bernat Solé, who reported on Saturday that 99.9% of the polling stations have enough members and 66.6% have all the members and substitutes in full, data that have led the head of the elections to affirm that "all of the polling stations can be formed". Despite this, the number of people who have presented allegations is growing steadily as the days go by. At this point, more than 35,600 objections have already been received by the Zone Electoral Boards. This Friday, for the first time, the percentage of excuses that have been accepted has also become known, since the High Court of Justice of Catalonia has informed that 23,300 objections have been endorsed by the electoral referees, that is, 65% of the people who have claimed will not have to be at a polling station. There are still, however, some 3,750 excuses that are pending resolution, a fact that means that some members of the polling stations will not have a response before the elections. On this point, Solé stated that in the face of administrative silence, they will still have to go to the polling station first thing in the morning.

These statements coincide with the orders of the Central Electoral Board (JEC). Yesterday, Santiago García, the president of the Barcelona Board, said that due to the large number of allegations, between 2,000 and 3,000 would not have a response before election day. Within hours, this statement received a response from the JEC. In a resolution, the JEC reminds the zone boards that before February 14th they have to give a reasoned response to all the requests presented by the persons designated as members of the electoral polling stations. Thus, although the electoral judges have the legal obligation to evaluate all the excuses, it remains unknown whether some objections will have administrative silence. On Friday, Solé stated that it will be "complicated" to resolve all the allegations before the elections.

The pillow of volunteers

Even so, the Catalan Government assures that there will be no problems to constitute the stations. The administration shields itself in a "sufficient bag of substitutes" that allow for the elections to not be "in danger". "We have the certainty that all the stations can be constituted beyond the usual incidents" reiterated Solé. In fact, substitutes will be able to be an emergency tool thanks to a resolution of the JEC which authorises that, in the event that their table is constituted, they can be relocated to other stations with vacant places.

But what happens to the substitutes who are still receiving notifications this Saturday to be at a polling station? According to Solé, they will have to go to the polling station first thing in the morning and, if they believe they cannot be at a polling station and have to plead, they will go to the person in charge of the polling station and explain their reasons. In the event, for example, that their presence is not necessary because the polling station already has enough members, they will be free to do so.

50% of the members have already had an antigen test

Another of the data with which Solé has been satisfied is that 50% of the members of the stations have taken the antigen test offered by the Department of Health, exactly 29,687 people. And of these, only 0.38% tested positive, a much lower rate than that of the general population, which is 5.45%. The argument of the Health Department to explain this bias is that most of the members of the tables have been tested without having symptoms when the general population usually takes these when they have signs of the virus. Solé recalled that during this Saturday the members of the stations can still go directly to their primary healthcare centre to take an antigen test.

All municipalities have protective equipment

One of the unknowns surrounding the elections was whether all the protection and prevention material promised by the government would reach the polling stations. According to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, "100% of the local councils already have all the necessary material". In addition, to improve security conditions, the government has announced that it has launched a mobile application that will show the level of occupancy of polling stations on 14 February. Anyone who downloads it will be able to find out how busy their polling station is. According to the Government, 10,000 people have already downloaded it. With all these measures ready to be implemented, Solé affirmed that the polling stations will be "fully secure spaces".

Solé, however, also called for responsibility from the population. He insisted that people should bring their vote prepared from home, wear a mask at all times, keep a safe distance, respect the queues and the pre-established route - they will enter and leave from different places - and, if in doubt, follow the instructions of the health and safety officers who will be at each polling station.

350% more postal votes

Of the 284,706 people who requested the postal vote - a figure that represents 350% more than in the 2017 elections -, until this Thursday a total of 265,647 people had already exercised their right to vote. "I can make a very positive assessment of this mode of voting", celebrated Solé, who pointed out that the final Friday count is still expected, and he believes the figure will grow even more.

In this way, the Catalan Government has put an end to the preparation of the most unusual elections, in which there has been more talk about how to vote than who to vote for. This Sunday 5.624.044 people are called to the polls, and they will choose the configuration of the new Parliament of Catalonia.