Counting underway in Catalan election 2024 – Follow live
5.75 million citizens called to vote to elect 135 MPs in Catalan parliament amid Rodalies train service chaos
Counting is underway in the 2024 election after polls closed at 8 pm on Sunday.
Exit polls predict the Socialists, in favor of Spanish unity, to come out on top in the vote, with fellow pro-independence parties Junts and Esquerra jostling for second place.
Follow here for updated results throughout the night.
More than 5.75 million Catalans were called to vote in 2024 parliamentary elections, the highest on record since the first vote in 1980, while turnout for the vote was 45.8% at 6 pm, slightly higher than in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, while pending for the final figure.
Today, 2,695 polling stations with 8,940 voting desks opened across Catalonia. However, the day was marked by the chaos at the Rodalies commuter train service.
Train disruption
While there was uncertainty about the voting schedule until minutes before the closing time of the polling stations, the regional Electoral Boards in Barcelona and Tarragona ruled out extending the voting time.
It was all in part because of the train disruption seen across Catalonia since early morning and after political parties requested. Early on Sunday morning, the Rodalies commuter train service in the Barcelona area was severely disrupted due to the theft of copper cable in Montcada i Reixac, just northeast of Barcelona.
The disruptions heavily impacted the right to vote and the turnout and that's why pro-independence Esquerra Republicana and Junts+ parties requested the regional electoral boards to extend voting hours in Sunday's election due to the disrupted services in the Rodalies commuter rail system.
Catalonia's High Court has confirmed that the four provincial electoral boards of Catalonia have received requests from ERC and Junts+ asking for the extension of voting hours in the elections being held this Sunday. But at 8 pm, Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona electoral boards rejected it.
Eligible voters
Of the total number of eligible voters, the vast majority were in the constituency of Barcelona: 4,278,966. There were 603,684 eligible voters in Tarragona, 553,337 in Girona, and 318,853 in Lleida. Almost 300,000 were able to vote from abroad.
Of the 135 total parliamentary seats are up for grabs, 85 are for the constituency of Barcelona, 18 for Tarragona, 17 for Girona, and 15 for Lleida.