Spain: Despite the protests the people began to vote

May 22, 2011:

In Spain the polls were already opened, and a total of 34,681,888 million people will exercise their right to vote until 8:00 pm Spanish time.

Of this amount, 34.2 million live in the country, 5,715 are resident abroad and 473,748 are foreigners residing in Spain.

In the 8,116 Spanish municipalities will be elected the same number of mayors and 68,462 councilors.

Authorities mobilized nearly one hundred thousand members of the Security Forces of the State and local and regional police.

According to some surveys “the socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will suffer significant losses in the voting for new officers of municipalities and regional governments”.

The Electoral Board has banned protests during the elections, but protesters still camped in various parts of the country and were not evicted by the police.