More than half of the people in the Algarve stayed on the couch or on the beach and did not vote

More than half of the people in the Algarve did not vote for the Legislatives this Sunday, October 6th. The abstention rate was 54,17%, increasing compared to the 2015 elections and setting a new record regional. Across the country, only in Bragança were the numbers higher (55,1%). 

Abstention in the Algarve was much higher than the national figures, which were 45,50%.

In the 2015 election, abstention in the region had been 48,62%. Now it's gone up a lot.

Analyzing county by county, Monchique was where the most people voted: abstention was only 37,86%. In all other municipalities, the rate was above 40%.

There is, even so, a curious fact. It was in the most peripheral municipalities that abstention numbers were lower: Aljezur (48,53%), Vila do Bispo (46,75%), Alcoutim (43,75%), and Monchique (37,86%).

On the opposite pole is Albufeira, the municipality where the fewest people went to vote, with an abstention of 59,34%. Soon after, with very similar numbers, appears Vila Real de Santo António (59,33%).

But it wasn't just here that the data was high. In the largest municipality in the Algarve, more than half of the people did not go to vote. We are talking about Loulé, which had an abstention of 57,2%.

Another curiosity is the fact that Lagos, who even elected Maria Joaquina Matos, former mayor, as PS deputy, had a high abstention rate: 55,08%.

Em Faro, the capital of the Algarve, almost half of the voters did not go to the polls. Abstention was just under 50%, standing at 49,48%.

As for Portimão, the second most important city in the regional panorama, abstention even exceeded half: 54,4%.

The numbers of the remaining cities were: Olhão (56,99%), Silves (52,34%), Lagoa (52,45%), São Brás de Alportel (50,78%), Tavira (50,97%) and Castro Marim (53,12%).

In these Legislatives, the Socialist Party was the most voted party in the 16 Algarve councils. The places algarvians in the Assembly of the Republic were distributed by the PS (5), PSD (3) e Left Block (1).

In the European Elections, held in May this year, the abstention rate in the Algarve had been very high, standing at 73,08%.

Although, traditionally, abstention is greater in Europeans, the number of people from the Algarve who will vote, whatever the election, seems to be decreasing more and more.

The beach and the sofa are the big winners.