Participation in Spain reaches record levels and is already the second highest since the return of democracy

Around 14:00 (local time), the 41.49% of those qualified to vote had almost expressed their preference in one of the polling stations in Spain., where deputies and senators are elected this Sunday to form a new government, as indicated The country.

It is about 4.61 points above the 36.87% recorded in 2016, also up to 14:00. On this occasion, the total, once the polls closed at 20:00, reached 66.48%.

The State Secretary for Communication, Miguel Angel Oliver, confirmed at a press conference "a widespread increase of each of the communities and a significant increase at the national level".

Partial data show that 14 273 099 people have already exercised their right to vote compared to the 12 755.38 they exercised three years ago, the second largest participation in Spain since the return of democracy in 1977.

The current record was given in 1993, when there was a participation at the end of the day76.44% in the victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), closely followed by the Popular Party (PP), after which Felipe González was re-elected president of the government for the second time.

Until now, the territories where the participation is the most important are Aragón (44,65%), Navarre (43,79%) and Cataluña (43,5%), where the growth was impressive of 11% since the previous elections.

In the middle of these two elections, Catalonia tried to move to independence and, therefore, to the intervention of the Spanish government, For what is expected, these elections will serve as rejection or ratification of the program for independence.

But the truth is that a divided country, where the race is so hotly contested and where there is a high percentage of undecidedno one is encouraged to predict a result. There is no longer, as in the past, concentration between the PSOE and the PP. None was enough to meet the expectations of the Spaniards and this paved the way for matches like Ciudadanos, Podemos or the far-right VOX party occupy a central place and are not secondary characters but main actors in Sunday's elections.

A total of 36,893,976 citizens are expected to vote in the thirteenth general election of the democratic scene underway in Spain, in which 1,157,196 young people will be able to exercise this right for the first time, as indicated by the agency EFE.

As novelty, 100,000 other people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness or cognitive impairment, as well as 2,093,977 residents abroad, can do so..

In today's elections, the 350 deputies and 208 senators to form the new Spanish Parliamentalthough in the case of the Senate, they are supplemented by several other dozens of elected representatives in the regional legislative chambers.