In Valdeprado, the lowest-altitude town in the Soria Highlands, there are more cats than neighbors. “Nature takes its course,” explain the granddaughters of Jesús and Blanqui. This couple has lived most of their lives in Navarra, where they are registered, but in Valdeprado, his town, the pandemic and Filomena have passed, among other exceptional situations.
Statistics have put this municipality of emptied Spain on the map due to a peculiarity. And it is that of the 52 people who are part of their electoral roll, only eight vote in the town, according to these data. The remaining 44 voters have been able to send their ballots from abroad, where they reside.
In these general elections, 35,140,881 people can vote, of which 2,328,261 will do so from abroad. They are the members of the census of resident-absentee Spanish voters living abroad (CERA). They represent 6.2% of the total, but there are places, mostly small municipalities, where they are more than half of the census. These are the data that are extracted from the voting lists provided by the Electoral Census Office and that include the consultation census and the claims, admitted or denied, that may have occurred on the days authorized.
Valdeprado is at the top of this list with 84.6%. There are 44 children of the people abroad who can elect the president of the Government of a country where they do not live.
There are another 3,236 municipalities (39.8% of the 8,131 total) that exceed the Spanish average of 6.21%. Those who are above 50% add up to the not inconsiderable figure of 103 towns, half of them in Castilla y León.
And most are small, especially far from the northwest of the peninsula. There are only 22 that exceed 1,000 inhabitants and 18 are located between Galicia (14 out of 14 with more than 50% of the vote coming from outside Spain) and Asturias (4 out of 5).
In fact, the community in which this phenomenon occurs with the greatest intensity is Galicia. It can be seen on the map by municipalities, but also when dealing with provincial data. The territories with the highest percentage of voters outside of Spain are, in this order: Ourense (28.9%), Lugo (20.4%), A Coruña (15%) and Pontevedra (15%).
What leads a son of the people to continue voting in his country of origin even if he no longer lives there? And what about their children who were born abroad and are nationalized?
It’s five in the afternoon, it’s sunny and Valdeprado is a ghost town where parked cars and cats in the shade are the only vestige of life. Alfredo Castellano Zamora, mayor of the municipality, gives the first clue by phone to find one of these ‘sons of the people’ who votes from abroad. He meets José Ángel Fernández, an expatriate who lives in Bolivia but has continued to visit Valdeprado. In fact, he is building a house for himself there.
José Ángel has a brother, Abel, who also immigrated there. Mari Carmen Verdejo is the only neighbor who visits Valdeprado at that time. She also knows José Ángel. She immediately opens the doors of her house. A glass of water and some shade before asking her husband Jesús Ruiz, who was born in the town, the contact person for this expatriate voter. They live in Logroño, but return to the family home on weekends. She suggests a visit to her namesake Jesús del Valle, the mayor’s cousin. His wife, Blanqui, may have the phone number of Lourdes, the Fernández sister, who lives in Pamplona.
While looking for the phone and investigating who might have it, Maricarmen takes the opportunity to take a tour of Valdeprado, where, despite the more than obvious depopulation, there is a children’s playground, a practically brand new fronton and a forge that serves as a social center. In summer the population multiplies by 15.
It is difficult to know exactly from which country exactly those 44 votes in this small municipality bathed by the river of the same name come from. But, and at a national level? Where are those voters?
18.6% of the total in Argentina (434,604) and another 10.2% in France (237,984). From there, the data provided by the Electoral Census Office make it possible to differentiate more than 180 territories among which are the United States (7%, with 165,096 voters), Cuba (6.5%, with 152,796), Switzerland (4.6%, 108,065) or Andorra (1%, with 24,574).
Although not all of them came from Spain to these countries. Based on the census, 81.5% of Spaniards residing in Argentina (389,292 out of 477,465 as of January 2023) were born in that country. Cuba leads that list with 99% (159,434 of 160,833).
In any case, the South American country is the territory where more Spaniards from abroad can vote for the next president of the Government. Those who reside in this Argentina are almost half of the CERA in Soria (49%) or Lugo (45.7%) and also represent the highest percentage in other provinces such as La Rioja (34.3%), Malaga (18.2%) or Bizkaia (14.8%).
The drawing of this map makes the ‘division’ clear. In the northwest of the peninsula, the center and the Mediterranean coast, France is the country that repeats itself the most.
In the Plaza de Valdeprado, a plaque in memory of its emigrants offers another good clue about the past and present of the town.
Blanqui appears again. He has obtained the phone number of José Ángel’s wife, Patricia, who happens to be in Madrid, where her daughter is studying. The trip had already been worth it, but the call had to wait. In Valdeprado there is no mobile coverage. Things of emptied Spain. There is no fiber.
Argentina is the territory where more Spaniards outside the country can vote for the next president of Spain. Those who reside in this country are almost half of the CERA de Soria
Return to the hotel. It is 20 kilometers to San Pedro Manrique and 40 minutes along a road under construction. Patricia answers the WhatsApp with the number of her husband in Bolivia. It’s a six hour time difference. In the morning, bingo, José Ángel answers.
«I am José Ángel and I was born in Valdeprado. I am 69 years old, I was studying in Arnedo (La Rioja) in a Franciscan school and then I went on to do professional training in Calahorra. When I finished I went to work in Pamplona and I was there for three years. I did my military service in Zaragoza and then they assigned me to Huesca. From there some uncles in Bolivia called me in 1977 and since then I have lived there », he recounts.
«Some uncles in Bolivia called me in 1977 and since then I have lived there»
Jose Angel
Born in Valdeprado and resident abroad
But José Ángel is not that expatriate voter now. Last year he began preparing the documentation to retire in Spain and is no longer part of CERA. But yes, his younger brother Abel, who also emigrated to Bolivia in 1974 and will vote in the general elections on 23-J.
One more day. Another Bolivia-Spain connection. On the other end of the phone, Abel tells how he emigrated to Potosí, in southwestern Bolivia, when he was 19 years old. He has lived there for half a century, where he met his wife, where his children were born, and where he runs a mineral treatment company. «My father was from Navajún and my mother, from Valdeprado. My mother’s brothers came to Bolivia where they did business with wheat mills and pasta factories. A guy came to Spain and asked me if I wanted to go with him. I replied that right now and after four months I received the plane tickets to go there », he explains.
The weight of the vote of Spaniards residing-absent abroad has grown by 4.5 points in the last ten general elections. They amounted to 1.6% in 1996. It is an increase in which Law 20/2022, of October 19, on Democratic Memory, which replaces the Historical Memory Law of 2007, has had a lot to do with it, and to which those born outside of Spain, of father, mother, grandfather or grandmother originally Spanish who lost or renounced their Spanish nationality due to having suffered exile, can benefit.
So Abel and his children are part of that 6.2% of voters who have been able to cast their vote from an embassy or a consulate abroad (the term ended on July 20). In their case, they had to do it from La Paz, the capital of the country.
«I like to be well connected with Spain. Here every day I watch the news »
Abel Fernandez
Born in Valdeprado and voter abroad
Participation among absent-residents abroad is usually not very high. In the last elections, the votes of CERA voters delivered in the provincial electoral boards were 6.8% of the total of this group, some 145,000. This year, they have been able to vote without prior request. The Electoral Census Office sent all the documentation ex officio.
Of course, Abel warns that their votes will not be received in Valdeprado, but in Pamplona. “Many of the family members of the town who were in Bolivia have already returned to Spain and are registered in Tarazona, Madrid, Barcelona…”, he says.
Why does Abel continue to vote in his homeland even though he has not returned to his village since his parents died more than a decade ago? «I like to be well connected with Spain. Here every day I see the ‘TV news’. The vast majority of the time I have voted. When you are outside your country, you miss it and want to be more informed », he justifies.
#town #ten #countrymen #vote