Election apathy gains upper hand

This figure is equivalent to 9'648 people, seen in the context of the country's total of 129'989 European “foreigners” who have requested permission to vote.

According to reports released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the Balearics is fifth on the list of Spain's provinces in terms of numbers of foreigners voting in these elections, a register which is headed up by Alicante.

A total of 26'467 ex patriates, originating from EU countries outside Spain and now resident in Alicante, have applied to vote. The sum represents 20.36 percent of the 129'989 who have applied throughout Spain.

Following behind Alicante, comes Barcelona with 16'030 EU citizens having applied to vote (12.33%); Malaga with 15'001 (11.5%); Madrid with 13'087 (10.06%), and the Balearics.

Only those EU citizens officially resident in Spain, who have responded as requested to the letter sent out last November by the National Institute of Statistics, will be able to vote in the European elections of 13th June.

At a national level, 700'906 such letters (straightforward enquiries about intention to vote) were sent out to European residents originating from the other 24 members of the European Union. Of this figure, only 129'989 have completed the voting application process.

Graham Harrison, the president of the British community of the small but representative town of Teulada on the coast of Alicante, admitted that the European elections awaken a “certain interest” amongst his fellow countrymen but not such “excitement” as local elections here in Spain, in which they can also vote. “It is much more important to us to be able to choose a mayor of the town where we live, than it is to vote for representatives to the European Parliament”, he confessed.

Although only a small part have applied to vote, the province where most EU citizens (coming from the remaining 24 member States outside Spain) reside, is Alicante with 151'434 people being officially registered there; followed by Malaga (79'016); Madrid (63'635); Barcelona (62'788); the Balearics (62'337) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (54'573).

The most numerus contingent of voters to add their weight to voting for Spain's allocation of 54 seats in the European Parliament is British. Of the 189'271 who live officially in Spain, 39'329 have formalised their application to vote.

Following on from the British, come the Germans. Of the 139'970 officially registered in Spain, 23'553 will vote; the French (16'752 of the 73'559); the Italians (16'177 out of 79'322); the Portuguese (8'950 out of 63'355); the Dutch (7'352 out of 33'5699; the Belgians (5'247 out of 27'154) and Swedes (2'434 out of 16'244).

Of the countries which were formerly annexed to the European Union on 1 May this year, Poland is the country whose citizens officially registered in Spain (25'356), showed the highest number of voting applications, 2'271; followed by the Danish (1'886 out of 9'106); the Irish (1'721 out of 8'152); the Finnish (1'314 out of 9'133) and the Austrians (1'109 out of 6'960).

At the other end of the scale, the country whose citizens have least applied to vote is Cyprus, since only 13 of the 73 officially resident in Spain completed the paperwork.