- The Minister of Governance emphasised that "this is a historic moment" and that "the eyes of the world will be on Catalonia tomorrow"
- The Minister explained that there are 550 accredited journalists, of which 180 are from foreign media organisations, which she cited as an example of the interest in this election
- She deplored the attitude taken by the Central Electoral Commission in turning down requests by the Catalan Government to extend the deadline for voting abroad, which has meant that many Catalans living overseas have not received their ballot papers
The Ministry of Governance and Institutional Relations has set up a data distribution centre in the Parliament building (Parc de la Ciutadella, s/n) for the Parliament of Catalonia election on 27 September.
The Minister of Governance and Institutional Relations, Meritxell Borrās, presented the facilities set up to monitor and distribute election data to the media and set out the arrangements made to ensure that election day goes smoothly.
"The Ministry of Governance and Institutional Relations and the Government of Catalonia have worked extremely hard to ensure that everything is ready for tomorrow," she said. "We want to make sure that every Catalan who wants to vote can do so."
The Minister thanked the thousands of people who will be on duty for the election to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. "This is a historic moment and so we have also been determined that everything should be done properly," she added.
The Minister explained that there are 5,510,798 people called to the polls who make up the electoral register for this election, of which 196,062 live abroad.
Problems with voting from abroad
Borrās said that there has been a significant increase in postal voting and 131,062 people have applied to vote by post, mostly from Spain. However, the Minister expressed her regret that there are Catalans living abroad who wanted to vote and will not be able to do so because their ballot papers did not arrive in time. She pointed out that the Catalan Government has asked the Central Electoral Commission three times for an extension to the deadline for voting, requests that were rejected even though the ballot papers had not arrived on time because of a challenge to one of the lists.
"We deplore the attitude taken to these requests made by the Catalan Government," she said, "as this will mean that once again there are Catalans living abroad who want to vote but cannot do so." Borrās cited countries such as the United States, Chile, Mexico and some parts of China as examples.
Around eighty foreign media organisations
Meritxell Borras highlighted that fact that there are more than 550 accredited journalists, of which about 180 are foreigners, and eighty foreign media organisations that are covering the election to the Parliament of Catalonia from the data distribution centre.
The Minister mentioned that this morning there has also been a meeting with foreign parliamentarians and said that "this election has generated enormous interest and very high expectations."
"The eyes of the world will be on Catalonia and the Catalans tomorrow," said the Minister. "I would urge people to give a lesson in civic behaviour and respect and vote normally and democratically."
Electoral information
The Minister said that voters who live in Catalonia can vote at 2,697 polling stations and 8,181 polling station committees. There will be 24,543 regular members of the polling station committees and 49,086 alternates as well as 3,885 Government representatives.
There will also be 8,186 Catalan Police Force officers on duty, of which 4,519 will be directly assigned to election-related duties. They will be added to by 1,703 local police officers and 143 local security guards.
The Minister said that during the course of the day there will be information about turnout and results on the website www.resultats.parlament2015.cat. In addition, the Catalan Government has provided the public with the free Elections 27S app for mobile devices which will enable users to view the turnout and results on their phones or tablets and compare them with the election in 2012. In addition, with this app users can also learn the names of the members elect who will enter the Parliament of Catalonia as the count progresses.
Furthermore, the helpline for queries about the election (93 5515990), the email address eleccions.governacio@gencat.cat and the 012 information hotline will all be operational on election day. These three channels have handled 12,000 queries to date said the Minister.
The website www.parlament2015.cat will also provide full information about the election and it has already received over 134,000 visits.
