DETAILS ABOUT VOTING

Some interesting data regarding population and elections of Orihuela Municipality. Believe me, it is worth to read it!

Orihuela is one of the largest municipalities of Spain. Its population is divided in 3 sections: Orihuela City, Orihuela Costa and the various suburbs, such as Torremendo, La Aparecida, Desamparados etc. The amount of the population is also equally distributed within these 3 “sections”, approximately 25.000 citizens in each of them.

Based on information of the INE (national institute of statistics), information available to everybody through their web page, in the year 2007 40.397 Spaniards went to vote but less than 3.000 Europeans.

On the 01.03.2010 there were 3.563 European citizens with the right to vote in Orihuela. This figure represents only 11,8% of all those foreign citizens which are actually registered at the Town Hall.

This is a very amazing and also frightening fact which shows clearly that there is a strong need of information regarding this matter.
Being registered at the Padrón does not automatically mean to be able to vote. When getting registered at the Town Hall in theory you should also be asked if you want to participate in the Municipal Elections. It might be that this is not always asked, or that the form is not handed out automatically, or that the European person who registers does not understand the question, or, or, or. We do not want to be mean, so we do not think that is done on purpose.
Contrary to what many people think, you can vote even without receiving paperwork from Valencia, as long as you are registered in the voting list. For some reason, you might not receive your forms by post.
The essential and basic rule to be registered to vote is to ask at the Town Hall for the form to register your vote. (Inscripción en el Censo Electoral)
They will hand you out a form which you have to fill in right there. On the rear of the form you find a description in English and other languages. You hand back the form filled in and signed and that’s it. It is of course necessary to show your passport and may be also to bring a copy of it. At the present time, at Orihuela Costa town hall they do ask for your residencia, respectively your inscription in the foreign registry. If this is totally correct is doubtful, but we must admit that it makes sense to be on the foreign registry if living here permanently and legally to have a right to vote.

A few months before the election, the INE (national institute of statistics) issues a voting list where all the registered voters are listed. This list will be available at the Town Hall where everybody can check if he/she is listed. The political parties also have access to this list and will certainly be helpful to check out for you if your registration is correct. In case you are not listed but have handed in the form, or if your details are not correct, a complain form can be filled in.

When this is all done and the big day comes, your vote can contribute to initialise the change in Orihuela Costa which many of us are hoping for.

Before the last 2 elections (in 2003 and in 2007) we could notice a few problems for the European citizens to apply for their right to vote, such as PC out of order, no forms available, not enough staff, long waiting queues etc. etc. With the years these kind of problems have hopefully vanished but we suggest to all of you to register your right to vote as soon as possible and not to wait until the last minute. If you experience any problems, don’t hesitate to let us know and we will help you.

In 2007 TEN PARTIES STARTED AT THE ORIHUELA ELECTIONS!!!
The total votes were divided as follows:

Partido Popular 14 councillors 14.113 votes 44,76 %
PSOE 7 councillors 7.114 votes 22,56 %
Los Verdes 3 councillors 2.829 votes 8,97 %
Centro Liberal R. 1 councillor 1.881 votes 5,97 %
Total of 82,26 %

Total votes of the 3 above mentioned opposition parties:
11.824 votes = 37,5 %
So the not mentioned remaining 6 small political groups (this includes Claro, the political group which only acts on the coast) did get a total of 17,74 %.
Imagine what could have happened if only half of those 17,74 % would have voted for one of the three big opposition parties….. Yes, the PP would have lost their absolute majority.

REGISTRATION IN THE VOTING LIST IS POSSIBLE ONLY UNTIL THE END OF NOVEMBER THIS YEAR. REGISTRATIONS WHICH ARE DONE AFTER THIS DATE, WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THE COMING ELECTIONS.