There is further evidence of an apparent division among political parties at Palma town hall regarding illegal street selling. The latest surfaced during a meeting of the accounts committee at which the ruling administration voted down a proposal which had been agreed between Angelica Pastor, the PSOE councillor for public safety and so therefore part of the administration, and the opposition Partido Popular.
At the council session last month, a failure to reach agreement on street selling between the administration's parties (PSOE, Més, Podemos) led to the PP and these three parties pledging to draft an alternative text. From this came the proposal that was turned down at the accounts committee. It stated that the full council will commit to maintaining the prohibition of illegal street selling contained in municipal bylaws and use all means to deal with this illegal activity.
To the astonishment of the PP, the vote went against this. Adrián García, who is the PSOE councillor for finance and economic affairs, limited himself to saying that it will be debated at the next full council session. Meanwhile, Aurora Jhardi of Podemos, who is councillor for public function (civil service), remained silent. She has removed the prohibition of illegal street selling from the forthcoming bylaw regarding the public way.
Javier Bonet for the PP said that the vote was totally unexpected but that it highlighted the poor relations between Pastor and Jhardi, which "are affecting the citizens and traders". He added that Podemos and Més seem to want to authorise illegal selling, despite it being contrary to law. Pastor, who wasn't at the meeting, later tweeted that "we will continue to fight street selling with specific campaigns".