Some of this week’s headlines in the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Elections, elections
What was the big story of the week? It was hard to avoid it. Last Sunday, the front page announced “the big vote”. It was time once again for elections for the regional government, the Council of Majorca and the town halls. Spaniards were expected to “sweep away 40 years of predictable politics”, but would things be “too close to call”, as Jason Moore intimated? On Monday, we had the answer. There had been “a vote for change”, even though, as Jason had noted, the Partido Popular of President Bauzá still won the greatest share of the vote and the greatest number of seats in the regional parliament. Even so, the “PP’s performance at the regional election (was) the worst it (had) experienced” since autonomous government had been introduced in 1983: only twenty seats out of the 59. This represented defeat and a “bad and tough result”, admitted the president.
By Tuesday, it was clear that the election had seen “one of the biggest upsets seen in Balearic history”. Actually, it was the biggest; the PP had fallen eight seats short of the 28 it had won on the only two previous occasions (1999 and 2007) it had failed to be elected. With the results known, there was plenty to analyse and plenty for interested (non-political) parties to comment on. The organisation which represents small to medium-sized businesses in the retail sector, Pimeco, was one which was encouraged by the shift to the left, believing that this would benefit smaller retailers and curb “the expansion of large supermarkets”. Otherwise, business was hoping that the next government (whatever its exact make-up) would arrive at “consensus and stable agreements”. This stability was referred to by former PP councillor in Calvia, Kate Mentink, who observed that “instability” was now the greatest danger and while she was surprised that, with the economy, employment and tourism all showing positive trends, the PP could suffer such a “serious defeat”, she noted that there had to have been “more to this” for the Balearics to have swung so far to the left. Traditional PP strongholds, like Calvia, had been “wiped out”.
President Bauzá to stand down
Reeling from the shock of the defeat, by midweek President Bauzá was saying that he would stand down as leader of the PP in the Balearics but would continue in his post until a regional congress of the party after the summer. This was to produce a row with the PP nationally, who said that there would not be any regional congresses until after the next general election (which may well take place in November).
Agenda for the next
government
While the president and the PP considered their futures, the agenda for the new government was coming under the spotlight. The Més socialists-nationalists, who might well provide the next president of the Balearics and the next mayor of Palma, were calling again for the introduction of a tourist tax. Antoni Noguera, who might be that next mayor, said that such a tax would go towards, among other things, a “tram-bus” in Palma, one which would be “ecologically sound” and that would connect the centre of Palma with the resort of Arenal.
While this tax looks likely to become a major controversy, other aspects of tourism with which many are in agreement could also be on the cards. Andrew Ede, in looking at what the elections meant for tourism on Friday, noted that the Més programme included restrictions on all-inclusives, more permissive regulation of private holiday accommodation and tax incentives in the off-season which might persuade more hotels to stay open.
By the end of the week, the election story had not run out of steam by any means, but the next real developments will be the coalitions that have to be formed at all levels of government - regional, council and municipal. There was, however, a reminder of what might be deemed foreign-resident indifference towards voting. As Friday’s front page explained, of 3,800 who were eligible to vote in Calvia (the slightly more than a quarter of those who were registered) only 400 actually did vote.
Strikes in June
Life was, otherwise, carrying on as normal, with normality making an appearance in the form of a threatened strike by Spanish air-traffic controllers over four days in June. The strikes, if they take place, would be of two hours duration in the mornings and afternoons of 8, 10, 12 and 14 June.
Lord Archer and ESRA
Altogether more pleasant was the splendid evening at Arenal’s yacht club for some 100 ESRA members, on which we reported on Friday. Special guests were Lord Jeffrey Archer and his wife, Dame Mary, who is now the chairman of London’s Science Museum. Others in attendance included Andrew Gwatkin, the British Consulate-General, and Gillian Brion, the Vice-Consul.