Falls in population since 2014 mean that four town halls will have fewer councillors to elect at the municipal elections in May. The four are Puigpunyent, Ses Salines, Valldemossa and, most notably, Calvia.
The reference to 2014 is because the population figures at that time had determined how many councillors could be voted in at the 2015 election. The number of elected councillors is linked to the size of population. In the case of Calvia, it had 50,328 inhabitants in 2014. That meant there could be 25 councillors. The population is now 49,333. Falling below 50,000 means four fewer councillors.
The system works as follows: up to 100 residents - three councillors; 101 to 250, five councillors; 251 to 1,000, seven; 1,001 to 2,000, nine; 2,001 to 5,000, eleven; 5,001 to 10,000, thirteen; 10,001 to 20,000, seventeen; 20,001 to 50,000, twenty-one; 50,001 to 100,000, twenty-five. Palma, the only municipality with more than 100,000 people, has 29 councillors. For municipalities with more than 100,000 people, there is one additional councillor for each additional 100,000 residents. However, the total must always be an uneven number, so another councillor is elected. Palma's population is over 400,000; hence the 29.
In Puigpunyent the population is now 1,967. It was 2,018 in 2014, so it will lose two of its eleven councillors. The same applies to Valldemossa, where the population is down to 1,945. The population of Ses Salines has slipped below the 5,000 mark (it was 5,018) to 4,877, meaning eleven rather than thirteen councillors.
By contrast with the four town halls losing councillors, two will be gaining some. Campos now has a population of 10,610, so it will have seventeen councillors, while Esporles will have thirteen courtesy of a population of 5,020.
In general terms, there have been population falls in five municipalities. These are the differences between 2017 and 2018. Puigpunyent registered the greatest loss - thirty fewer. The other four are Deya, Escorca (the smallest of all Majorca's municipalities in terms of population), Maria de Salut and Valldemossa.
Calvia, where the population had been falling, experienced an increase of 270 between 2017 and 2018.