The parties that form the Balearic government pact - PSOE, Mes plus Podemos (which isn't actually represented in the government) - are aware that the next regional election is set to be very close. Two of these parties, Més and Podemos, are seeing their support ebb in the polls, while there is increasing support for the centre-right El Pi and Ciudadanos.
The three parties therefore gave a united press conference at the Balearic parliament yesterday. The main message, not unexpectedly, is that they believe that they will continue to provide a coalition after the 2019 election. There will still be a pact of the left and not one of the right with the Partido Popular and the C's at the helm.
PSOE's spokesperson Andreu Alcover stressed the consensus that has been attained between the three parties since the pact was formed after the May 2015 election. He said that there can be no return to "the policies of the past" and warned that the alternative to the "progressive political pact" is a government of the PP and the C's. "The pact fulfils its promises," Alcover said, and co-spokesperson from PSOE, Pilar Costa, added that a right-wing government in the Balearics would represent "a step backwards". She noted that the days of political majorities in the Balearics are over. The PP have enjoyed majorities in the past but appear to have no hope of gaining one in 2019.
Alberto Jarabo of Podemos explained that some of the agreements for change, which underpin the pact, have been met and that others are outstanding. "The intention is to extend these agreements into the future," he observed, meaning a second term for the pact. David Abril of Més echoed his words. "The agreements of change are for the present and the future."