The Delegate of the Government in Aragón, Rosa Serrano, presented this Monday the device for the 28M local elections in Aragón. “The priority objective of the Government Delegation is to ensure that the campaign develops normally and that citizens can exercise their right to vote next Sunday in complete safety,” he said in thanking all those involved “for the work they are doing to be able to carry out effectively such an intense electoral day.”
This work also includes the organisation of sufficient means to allow the transfer of people with reduced mobility in the Community, a service that would not be possible without the Red Cross; and that of people living in localities that do not have an electoral college, to make it easier for them to have transport to the schools that they have assigned.
In these elections, which were held for the last time in 2019, residents of Aragon, either Spaniards or foreigners from EU countries or with a treaty of reciprocity, are called to the polls. In total, 991,918 voters are called (994,603 on the previous occasion) of which 720,887 belong to the province of Zaragoza; 168,381 people can vote in Huesca and 102,650 in Teruel. The census of resident foreigners is of 12,527 people.
Next Sunday, 45,620 citizens will be able to vote for the first time in a local election having reached the age of 18 since 2019. In the previous electoral appeal, there were 41,682 people. In the province of Zaragoza, 33,997 young people will be able to vote in the ballot box for the first time, which will be 7,358 in Huesca and, in Teruel, 4,265. “Our most important mandate is to ensure that all citizens can exercise their right to vote and we have been working hard on that for quite a few weeks,” said Serrano. With this census, the 731 mayors of the Aragonese municipalities will be able to be appointed, 43 mayors of the districts, 4,140 councillors (30 more than in 2019) and finally the 77 provincial deputies will be able to be appointed.
In the province of Zaragoza, 293 councillors, 3 municipal councillors, 27 provincial deputies and 1,731 councillors will be elected (11 more than in the previous elections). In Huesca, 1,269 councilors will be voted (15 more than in 2019), of which 202 mayors, 39 mayors and the 25 deputies that make up the DPH will be elected. The votes in the province of Teruel will serve for the configuration of 236 mayors among 1,140 councilors (four more than in 2019), a single pedantic mayor and the 25 deputies of the DPT.
The approximate cost of this electoral Sunday will be 2,300,000 euros.
Foreigners residing in Aragon
On Sunday’s election day, 12,527 foreigners living in Aragon (from the EU or from countries with reciprocity treaties) will be able to participate, distributed by provinces as follows: 7,967 in Zaragoza, 3,123 in Huesca and 1,437 in Teruel. They come, among others, from Romania (8,489), Bulgaria (973), France (633), Italy (563), Portugal (374), Poland (336), Germany (241), the Netherlands (176), the United Kingdom (152), Belgium (104) or Colombia (87). All of them are states that recognize the right to vote in their municipal elections to the Spanish and Spanish residents in their territory.
Human and material media
To ensure an event-free Sunday and an agile count, more than 29,000 people with varying degrees of involvement will work and collaborate throughout the day. As detailed by the Ministry of the Interior this morning, 4,449 troops of the State Security Forces and Corps will be active during the day, also counting on the participation of 436 local police in the localities that have this body. “Their function is not only to help in the event of need, since they are the guarantors of a safe and effective device,” said the delegate.
Among the 731 Aragonese municipalities, 2,215 tables will be distributed among the 1,115 electoral venues (500 in Zaragoza, 338 in Huesca and 277 in the province of Teruel) available to the Autonomous Community. The total number of ballot boxes will be 4,473, counting those that will receive the vote for the regional elections that are held simultaneously.
Support to exercise the right to vote
The Civil Protection and Red Cross Plan to ensure that everyone can exercise their right has provided for a broad mechanism at the service of the Aragonese. In the province of Zaragoza there will be 41 volunteers and 15 vehicles; in the province of Huesca there will be 36 volunteers and 10 vehicles, while in the province of Teruel there will be 25 volunteers and four vehicles to attend the transfers to the respective electoral premises in the case of reduced mobility and other casuistry.
And to guarantee travel between municipalities due to the absence of polling stations, buses or taxis have been enabled between five localities in the province of Zaragoza, 105 in the province of Huesca and 33 in Teruel.
Vote by mail
Rosa Serrano recalled that, according to the agreement adopted by the Central Electoral Board, the deadline for the deposit of the vote by mail for the regional and municipal elections has been extended until this Thursday, May 25, in the usual time of the post offices throughout Spain. This deadline initially ended on Wednesday, but with the enlargement decision adopted, citizens who have requested to exercise their right to vote by correspondence for the regional and municipal elections to be held on Sunday will have more time to deposit their vote.
After the deadline for applying for the remote vote, it was reported that 34,202 applications have been admitted throughout the community, 28,834 face-to-face applications and 5,368 telematics applications. By provinces, 21,924 were received in Zaragoza (18,370 presences), 7,534 in the province of Huesca (of which 6,404 were presences) and in Teruel 4,744, of which 4,060 were in the Post Office itself and 684 through the Internet.