First data implies little change to voter turnout in Spain

- The first data on the Spanish general election being held on Sunday published by the Spanish Ministry for the Interior shows that the number of people voting has changed little since the previous election held on Dec. 20, 2015.

It was thought that the celebration of two general elections in just six months could have led to fewer people going to the polls, but the Interior Ministry confirms that in the first five hours of voting since polling stations opened at 9 a.m. local time, 36.87 percent of the 36.5 million Spaniards entitled to vote had done so.

This is just 0.04 percent down at the same time in the December elections which ended with a total turnout of 69.7 percent and implies the overall turnout will also be similar to that registered six months ago when polls close at 8 p.m..

The Community of Valencia had the best turnout of the first five hours with 43.32 percent of the electorate voting.

It was in Valencia that one of the early anecdotes of election day occurred when a woman designated as a member of the electoral council at a polling station in the Nazaret neighborhood of the city went into labor as voting started and had to be taken to hospital. 

source : xinhua