The spokesperson for the National Elections Commission (CNE) indicated this Tuesday, February 3, that there will be “specific changes” to voting locations next Sunday, the day of the second round of the presidential elections, due to the damage caused by Storm Kristin.
“The only indications we have are of specific changes in voting locations. Therefore, we advise voters to find out where to vote on the same day as the location may have been changed, especially in the most affected areas”said André Wemans.
The person in charge explained that most of the changes were due to damage caused by bad weather in the buildings where the voting would take place.
“Due to the storm, there was damage to some buildings where the first round of the presidential elections took place and, because of this, they were no longer able to guarantee conditions to accommodate polling stations”specified.
André Wemans guaranteed that, in logistical terms, everything is ready for Sunday’s election.
“We know that in terms of logistics, everything is in place. But we know the situation in which part of the country it is, so we are monitoring the situation because more heavy and intense rain is expected this week”he stated, admitting that there could be more changes by Sunday.
So far, municipalities in 10 of the 18 districts of mainland Portugal and one in the Autonomous Region of Madeira have already requested a change in voting location, a request approved by the CNE, according to the Voter Portal, of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI).
Braga, Bragança, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Lisbon, Santarém, Vila Real and Viseu are the 10 districts with municipalities that have already requested changes.
The request to change the voting location was due to “force majeure reasons”, maintains the Voter Portal, without specifying which ones.
In the district of Coimbra, one of those that recorded the most damage following the storm, there are three municipalities where there are changes in voting locations, namely Coimbra, Condeixa-a-Nova and Figueira da Foz.
Afterwards, the districts of Bragança, Évora and Viseu registered two changes each, and the remaining districts one each.
There is also a single change in Madeira, namely in the municipality of Funchal.
Citizens elect the next President of the Republic in a second round on Sunday, after António José Seguro obtained 31.1% (1,755,563 votes) in the first round and André Ventura 23.5% (1,327,021 votes).
Ten people have died since last week following bad weather. Civil Protection recorded five deaths directly associated with the passage of the Kristin depression and the Câmara da Marinha Grande announced another fatality, to which were added four deaths recorded due to falls from roofs (during repairs) or poisoning originating from a generator.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, falling trees and structures, cuts or restrictions on roads and transport services, especially railway lines, the closure of schools and power, water and communications cuts are the main material consequences of the storm, which caused hundreds of injuries and displacement.
Leiria, Coimbra and Santarém are the districts with the most damage.
The Government declared a state of calamity until next Sunday for 68 municipalities and announced a package of support measures of up to 2.5 billion euros.
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