2023-06-02 13:12:52
The advancement of the general elections has alerted Spaniards who have vacations from the second half of July, especially those who had already booked trips. The travel insurance comparator Acierto.com predicts that the contracting of this type of insurance will skyrocket during the month of June and explains what options exist to protect family vacations in case you are summoned to a polling station
Can we not go to the polling station if we have a trip?
Being a member of a polling station is mandatory, unless we find ourselves in one of the situations contemplated by the Electoral Law. Holidays are not expressly included as reasons of force majeure to get rid of the polling station. In this case it will be necessary to claim before the Electoral Board (providing the documentation corresponding to the trip and within 7 days from the receipt of the certified letter) and waiting for him to understand them as a “family event of special relevance”framed within the allegations for family reasons, and that will also cause economic damage in case of postponement of these or if it is not directly possible to postpone them.
The consequences of being absent without justification are serious: it can lead to a prison sentence of 3 months to 1 year, or an administrative fine of 6 to 24 months. The amount changes according to the sentence (article 143).
The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has asked the Electoral Boards to make their criteria more flexible “to avoid an avalanche of claims for cancellation of trips” and affirms that it is time to change article 27 of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime “in order to make the appointment of president and members of the electoral tables voluntary” .
Facua has also requested “that those trips made as a family or whose purpose is to visit relatives, hired prior to May 30 and that cannot be postponed or whose postponement causes significant economic damage, be considered family events of special relevance”.
Can I take out the insurance now if I had already booked my trip?
In any case, and waiting for what happens, a A good alternative is still to take out travel insurance with cancellation or a specific trip cancellation policy, recommends the comparator Acierto.com. “Both allow you to cancel the trip for reasons contemplated in the contract (such as being summoned to the polling station) and recover the expenses. In addition, they are travel insurance that can currently be obtained at a very good price,” adds the comparator .
Travel insurance, both cancellation and cancellation coverage, cover the expenses that may arise from the cancellation of the trip. This guarantee may have certain limits: for example, that there is a spending limit, that not all reservations are covered (for example, excursions or restaurant reservations that have involved a disbursement), etc.
Besides, It is key that the cause of the cancellation is reflected in the policy. There are companies that offer trip cancellation insurance with up to 33 different reasons. But it depends on each insurer and each policy. The most common in most of them are illnesses, accident or death of the owner or a direct relative, unforeseen situations such as work or study reasons and calls from official organizations, a case in which it is included that they call us to a polling station.
If you intend to travel coinciding with the holding of elections and have not yet made a reservation, the different consumer groups advise doing so. if instead You already had your trip booked before the elections were brought forward and you do not have cancellation insurance, you can still purchase it. Acierto.com and the travel insurer InterMundial explain that you can still enjoy this coverage as long as you contract the insurance before the cause that will prevent you from traveling occurs, that is, the call for a table member (July 1). In this case, the coverage will be guaranteed once the grace period of 72 hours has been saved for having contracted it after the trip.
The presidents and members of the tables, as well as two substitutes for each one of them, are chosen by lottery between the twenty-fifth and twenty-ninth days after the call, according to the law. That is, the draw will take place between June 24 and 28, although the deadline to notify the chosen ones will be July 1.. On the other hand, if the insurance is contracted after receiving the notification to be a table, the insurance coverage will not be valid.
Of course, it is advisable to look carefully at the conditions of the insurance that you are going to hire, to verify that it covers the imminent call for elections, since some insurers may not offer this option. In this sense, insurers and travel agencies are negotiating the creation of a special insurance aimed at preserving reservations and vacations contracted by citizens coinciding with the date of the general elections of 23-J, in anticipation that they will be called to join a polling station.
According to data from Acierto.com, the contracting of travel insurance has shot up 50% only in the first quarter of the year, “a figure that will continue to grow by leaps and bounds after Pedro Sánchez’s announcement and a trend that has been repeating itself since the end of the pandemic,” warns the comparator. Specifically, vacation insurance has increased by 64% compared to the same period in 2022. “Spaniards are more aware of the importance of traveling safely and avoiding unforeseen events,” says Acierto.com.
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