Spain extends deadline for mail-in ballots

Madrid, July 21 Spain's Central Electoral Commission (JEC), which is tasked with administering all procedural aspects of the country's general election to be held on July 23, extended the deadline for depositing postal votes.

The original deadline was 10 p.m. on July 20, but the JEC granted the extension on Thursday at the request of the country's postal service (Correos) to enable citizens who had not been able to collect the requisite documents to do so, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since this year's general election is being held on July 23, in the middle of the summer holiday season, a record number of Spaniards -- 2.6 million -- have requested to vote by post, twice as many as in the previous election in November 2019.

Ninety-one per cent of those who opted to vote by post have already done so, but around 230,000 have yet to mail their ballots.

The latest opinion polls published on Monday predict a narrow victory for the right-wing People's Party (PP) led by Alberto Nunez Feijoo against Pedro Sanchez's ruling Socialist Party (PSOE), but no party is expected to secure a majority.

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