Participation in the general elections stood at 53.1% at 6:00 p.m., according to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior. In the last general elections, in November 2019, participation had risen to 56.85%. Thus, they are almost four points less. The figure contrasts with the increase of 2.56 points that occurred at 2:00 p.m.
Catalonia, with a drop of 11 points in participation, to 48.68%, is where it is most reduced.
These data do not include voting by mail, which in these elections has set a historical record and is added at the end of the day. More than 2.47 million voters have deposited their vote at the Post Office for the 23-J elections, which represents 94.2% of the applications admitted, the highest ratio reached in a general election since 2008, the first year with approved statistical records.
By autonomies, Cantabria has the highest participation, with 60.44%, followed by the Valencian Community (57.93%) or La Rioja (57.11%). In any case, where the vote grows the most at 6:00 p.m. is Galicia, with 2.7 more points, up to 55.96%. On the opposite side, the aforementioned Catalonia, Madrid (-7.81 points and 53.69%) or the Basque Country (-5.18 points to 52.42%) are the ones that have fallen the most.
In total, 37.5 million citizens are called to go to the polls. They will not have major setbacks because 100% of the 60,314 planned polling stations have been set up normally, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. With all formed at 10.20 am, the last to be established were those in the Canary Islands, where schools open an hour later, and one in the Basque Country.
The big candidates have voted first thing in the morning. Pedro Sánchez has been the earliest riser, minutes after the start of election day.
