Low turnout for Spanish yes to Constitution
By Honor Mahony
Spain's overwhelming endorsement of the European Constitution has been tempered by the fact that so few people could be bothered to vote in Sunday's referendum.
While 77 percent voted in the favour of the document, just 42.3 percent of the electorate actually went to the polling stations.
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Political leaders were quick to praise the result - the first of an expected ten referendums across the EU on the Constitution.
"Thanks to the voters in Spain, the future of Europe and of its Constitution has been given a great start", said Spanish EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
"In opening the way with this positive and unambiguous vote, the Spanish people have sent a strong signal to their fellow citizens who will give their view on the Constitution in the coming months", said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, "Today has been a great day for all Europeans".
But the turnout, which was lower than the average turnout for the European elections in June (45.7%), is likely to raise questions again about why Europe and EU issues fail to resonate with voters - even in a country as pro-European as Spain.
It also sends a worrying signal to the other nine countries planning to hold referendums - including the UK and France - particularly as the government made a huge rallying effort to inform citizens about the documents and urge them to vote.
The main two parties, the Socialist PSOE and the conservative PP, were in favour of the Treaty, along with the media. The No camp was concentrated in some regional nationalist and former communist parties.
The referendum was non-binding and the Spanish parliament still needs to ratify the Constitution.
Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia have all ratified the Constitution via their national parliaments - the deadline for all member states is the end of October 2006.
