Catalan Government wants poll station members vaccinated for February elections
Government and political parties bringing their positions closer on the extraordinary measures for the elections
BarcelonaThe Government and the political parties are coming closer to an agreement on the extraordinary measures that will have to be applied in the Catalan elections of February 14th, the first to be conducted in the context of a pandemic. This has been confirmed by the different parties after the meeting held in Parliament to discuss the organisation of the elections. Among the measures they have agreed upon is to try to prioritise that the members of the polling stations be vaccinated against covid on election day.
Thus, as explained by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernat Solé, the Department of Health will be asked to include citizens who will be working at poll stations -who are selected randomly- as one of the priority groups to be vaccinated "insofar as possible". The aim is to guarantee maximum health safety on an election day when everyone is expected to vote, including those who are infected. This has been the main novelty of the meeting on Monday, but the meeting has also served to seal other agreements. For example, as ARA announced, parties agreed that the administration send citizens the ballot papers by post, in order to avoid crowding at poll stations.
Voting by time bands
Parties have also agreed to give voters recommended, not compulsory, time bands in which to vote. Thus, the vulnerable will be asked to vote between 9 a.m. and 12 noon; the general population will be asked to vote between 12 noon and 7 p.m. and, finally, those infected and their close contacts will be asked to go between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. There was also agreement on the cases in which the elections could be suspended because of the covid. According to Solé, this would only happen in two scenarios: if there is a "very limited social activity" that makes it impossible to vote normally or if there is a return to a situation of home confinement as there was in March.
And when will it be decided whether to go ahead with the elections or not? The government and the parties have agreed that January 15 is the key date to make the decision. On that day, with the epidemiological data available, an attempt will be made to reach a consensus on whether it is possible to vote with guarantees on February 14 or not. In any case, the Government will have the final say.
