Logroño, (EFE).- The recount of the vote of the people of La Rioja abroad this Friday generates expectations due to the possibility that it could benefit Vox with a third seat, to the detriment of one of the two that Podemos-IU obtained in the elections on May 28, which will depend on the number of people who have voted.
The Electoral Board of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja will carry out this Friday the recount of the votes that have been cast, whose number is not known, those registered in the Electoral Census of Absent Residents, formed, in these elections, by 17,652 La Riojans who are registered abroad.
The regional elections last Sunday, with the votes in the ballot box and by mail, have configured a Parliament of La Rioja in which the PP has an absolute majority, with 17 deputies; followed by the PSOE, with 12; Vox, with 2; and Podemos-IU, with another 2.
The votes cast by the people of La Rioja abroad will be added to those already registered on Sunday at the polls and by mail and that is where the first of the “variables” of this process will come into play, since it will be known, precisely, what number of votes is necessary to obtain 5% of the minimum suffrages to access a seat in the La Rioja Parliament.
The margin for the candidacy of Podemos-IU is not great, since it obtained 5.07% of the votes counted on May 28 and they only need 5% of those that are counted on Friday to maintain their two deputies, something that the coalition considers “feasible”.
The next variable already depends on the number of votes itself, since last Sunday’s recount left Vox, which obtained 7.57% of the votes counted, 52 ballots away from getting a third seat.
In case of achieving them, it would be the number 2 candidate on the Podemos-IU list, Raúl Pérez, a member of the purple formation, who would leave the seat for the benefit of Samuel Cañizares, third on Vox’s.
calm and caution
In statements to EFE, the head of the list for the Podemos-IU regional Parliament, Henar Moreno, recalled that, in previous elections, they have managed to exceed the threshold of 5% in the foreign vote and have even achieved a higher percentage than in voting in the ballot box, so it is “calm” in that sense.
Moreno (IU) has specified that, for her to lose her act of deputy, “the situation would have to arise that Vox would make us a huge difference in the foreign vote and traditionally that has not happened.”
Yes, he has recognized that maintaining the second seat is more complicated because Vox needs a relatively small number of votes to add one more.
For his part, Ángel Alda, who led the Vox list for the La Rioja Parliament, has indicated to EFE that in his party they are “calm, but expectant, to see how events unfold. We are going to be cautious”.
“If finally that handful of votes that we need to obtain the third deputy is decided in our favor, it will be very positive news for the people of La Rioja and for Vox,” he said, which would allow his party’s project to be consolidated “even stronger.” in La Rioja and “we would have a greater voice in Parliament for the next four years.”