Spanish voters head to the polls, as city square protests continue

Millions turn out to elect municipal councils and regional governments, despite calls from demonstrators to abstain As tens of thousands of demonstrators continued to defy Spanish authorities by filling city squares to protest against establishment politics, millions more went to the polls to elect municipal councils and regional governments. By early Sunday afternoon, voting turnout was up 2% on four years ago, suggesting that calls to stay away from the polls made by one section of the mushrooming protest movement had not had any wider impact. By 2pm turnout had reached 36% of voters. Overall turnout at the elections four years ago was 64%. “I have dressed up because I consider voting very important,” said José Luis, a Madrid voter in his 50s who had put on his best suit for the event. Only when polls close at 8pm on Sunday however, will the number of blank or spoilt ballot papers be counted to give any idea of just how deep disenchantment with Spain’s political system runs. Opinion polls showed the socialist party of the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was facing a resounding defeat at the hands of Mariano Rajoy’s conservative People’s party. In the Puerta del Sol, the central Madrid square where the spontaneous protests began a week ago, crowds gathered to join or simply watch those taking part in the open assemblies at which the movement is trying to come up with a coherent set of demands. Speaker after speaker insisted they did not want to leave the square yet. “We must not go until we have firm plans and proposals,” said the representative of one of the sub-committees and working groups that have sprung up as part of a sophisticated, if cumbersome, exercise in open democracy. Early on Saturday afternoon, the Puerta del Sol protesters agreed they would camp out for at least another week. “The consensus is to stay until Sunday 29 May,” organisers said in a statement. “Nobody from amongst the thousands of participants in the assembly opposed the idea.” The protesters also agreed to start spreading their influence to neighbourhoods across Spain’s capital city. A working group of computer experts and hackers told the assembly they were building online links to bring together the multiple protests. These have taken over dozens of city squares around the country and have been spread by both social networks and Twitter with the #spanishrevolution hashtag . Organisers said the separate protests had decided to unite and work together to produce demands, which were likely to call for electoral reform and stricter measures to tackle corruption. An open video conference involving demonstrators in various cities was also due to be held. Intense political debate did not prevent a festive air ruling in the tent city that has taken over the Puerta del Sol. Sunday strollers picked their way past exhausted-looking youths lying on mattresses, many of whom have now been camped out for days. Signs pasted up in the square called on those who wanted to party to go somewhere else. “This is not a zoo,” read a message to onlookers. Spain Europe Protest Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.