Applause, skepticism and chimes: when the party of democracy is serious

• Direct Breaking News on Voting

• Appointment with the polls The countryside and 23 cities decide today Spanish politics

Basilio

takes the ballot, carefully puts it in the envelope, stands before the trio that makes up the polling station and blurts out the phrase of the day:

-Attack!

But it's a laugh offensive.

Even applause is heard.

In this empty portion of

, the party of democracy is serious.

The party intervenors take photos together and the neighbors vote skeptically but without conflict.

Today there is mass, coffee and polls.

Attack.

We are in

, a town in the south of Soria with 55 inhabitants.

Here began his electoral campaign

because Arenillas sums up the two Sorias, which are not the two Spains.

The two Sorias are the one that empties and the one that fights to repopulate, whatever ideology it has.

And it is that in Arenillas the retirees of the rural stereotype coexist with the young people who break it.

Why?

"Because after the depopulation of the 50s, 60s and 70s, in the 80s the children of those who had left realized the danger of extinction of the town, they set up the

, they bought the old house of the priest from the bishopric and they began to revitalize this town socially, economically and culturally. They rehabilitated houses and today there are seven municipal houses that have served to attract families and couples. Here there are people from

."

,

son and grandson of lerines, the historical demonym of the inhabitants of Arenillas, speaks.

The result today is a town dedicated to agriculture and livestock, but with a masonry company, a carpentry shop, a rural hostel, a bar, people who telecommute (when the internet allows it) and even a music festival that brings together artists from unpopulated and populated areas and that last year had a guest who was not empty:

.

Arenillas, 55 inhabitants: Soria emptied.

Arenillas: 9 children and another to come: Soria repopulated.

The tenth infant of Arenillas will be called

and he has just voted in his mother's belly.

is six months pregnant, she is a historian and researches inheritance genealogies for a law firm in Madrid thanks to teleworking and a few trips to the capital each month.

"I'm not from here, but one day I came to City Hall, I met

, the mayor, there was a crush and here we are. Our son will be born in

, because I'm from there and my parents are there, but he will live and grow up here with us. One more for the people".

Alberto is Alberto López, mayor of Arenillas for the PSOE and worker of wheat, barley, sunflower and legumes.

"Complaining is important, but if you complain and do nothing, it's useless. You have to complain and do it."

At his side nods

, representative of the PP, who possibly thinks the same, but from the other political side of this Hemicycle without anger that is today the local social and bar of Arenillas converted into an electoral college.

The table is a thing of the vowels

and

and the president,

.

They have been here since eight in the morning with the mayor, the deputy mayor and a couple from the Civil Guard who will attest that everything is in its place: the ballot box, the ballot papers, the booth with the black curtain, the markers, the rule and census.

The census... 37 voters.

Those responsible for the electoral table have opened the school at nine o'clock with a pinch of intrigue to know who will be the first voter of the day.

9:00 a.m. and nothing.

9:10 a.m. and nothing.

9:30 a.m. and nothing.

-Look, if no one comes, let go of a countryman who has come to have a coffee but doesn't want to vote... for now.

9:40 a.m. and nothing.

9:55 a.m. and nothing.

10:00 a.m. and... the church bells ring.

They call mass "diezymedia".

-For me, no one is going to come until the mass is over, says the countryman from before.

A man goes to vote in Arenillas (Soria).

And in that, at 10:07 am

appears .

He is the first.

He walks over to the table where all the ballots are and jokes.

"Why do I take them all?"

Hugo, Plácido and Silvia check their ID.

"It's 32. Vote."

And then Teodosio puts the vote in the ballot box and makes the gesture of victory.

There is laughter and applause.

The party of democracy.

A good while later, 100 meters from here, the priest said: "You can go in peace."

And this bar / social venue / polling station has begun to come to life.

They are the voters of Arenillas.

At 11:30 am, 32% voted here, 20 points more participation than in all of

At 1:10 p.m., 40%.

There is no community data at this time.

La Soria emptied by voting in a populated ballot box.

Lunch time is coming.

Several neighbors chat and talk about politics.

"Here comes everyone with promises, but on Monday they will have forgotten."

"Let's see if they listen to us this time."

"You have to listen to the elders, who know how to explain."

"As they don't put incentives, nobody will stay"...

It's almost 2:00 p.m.

The two civil guards who come from the villages appear.

Not an incident.

And almost at the end of the morning a slow figure with a cane enters this urn temple, a man with very blue eyes and a smile guessed behind his mask.

His name is

.

He is 97 years old.

He is the oldest person in the village.

The eternal voter.

I have been voting for many years.

I'm glad to vote.

And I would like them to solve what happens in this uninhabited land.

But how?

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