We vote on the Santa Maria

(BRUSSELS2) It's not easy when you're deployed abroad, lost in the depths of the sea or in Afghanistan, to vote for local elections. And yet, it is done. Spanish soldiers deployed abroad were the first to vote in the municipal and regional elections on May 22. For the sailors of the "Santa Maria" frigate, which is taking part in the EU operation against piracy in the Indian Ocean, a somewhat special system has been put in place. The ballot papers had to be transported by an armed forces plane to Djibouti and then by helicopter to the frigate. The captain of the ship then opened the improvised polling station on the ship. Once the vote was over, the completed ballots made the same trip in the opposite direction, by helicopter to Djibouti and then back to Spain by the armed forces plane. Members of the P3 Orion surveillance aircraft detachment voted at the Djibouti air base.

In all the places where soldiers are deployed, the operation was repeated, an identical process. So for the sailors of the Infanta Elena frigate, it was easier; they voted during the stopover in the Seychelles, and the ballots sent by commercial plane.

In the end, 1.532 soldiers out of some 3300 deployed abroad voted, which gives a participation rate of 44,75%. Variable rate depending on the operations (and the ease of reaching all the military): Bosnia and Herzegovina (76,47%), Eunavfor Atalanta (60,81%), Lebanon (51%), EUTM Somalia (50%), Afghanistan (41,64%) and "Unified Protection" (24,15%).