Opening Parties and IMS report p 11 to 13 Also Inside this week’s 24 page summer issue ...
Ibiza is Well Hung “With no absolute majority in the Provincial Government and Consell Insular, plus San Antonio, San Jose & Ibiza Town all without clear winners, we can consider our Islands very well hung indeed, and plenty of Political deal-making to follow”
See pages 18-19 for full results. Before the Spanish local and regional elections last week, political commentators and experts were predicting that Spain is about to enter a new political era in the wake of the recent economic crisis and high-profile corruption scandals. Spaniards voted in 8,122 municipalities last Sunday and the results saw major gains for anti-austerity parties linked to the Podemos movement, which is barely a year-old. Whilst the Popular Party is set to win overall, it has lost more than three million votes since 2011. The PSOE has done little better after losing 1.26 million votes. Popular Party (PP): 5.2 million (26.6%) vs. 8.48 million (37.5%) in 2011 Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE): 4.97 million (25.3%) vs. 6.23 million (27.8%) in 2011 The PP still have the highest share of the vote of any single party, but have lost majorities in traditional regions such as Valencia where the party has been badly damaged by corruption scandals. In Barcelona, anti-poverty activist and left-wing candidate Ada Colau was elected mayor. In Madrid, Manuela Carmena came out of retirement to, in all likelihood, become mayor through a coalition with the socialists. The success of these anti-establishment figures in Spain’s two largest cities, has underlined the fragmentation of Spanish politics. It seems that the two party system, in place for so many years, will be challenged come the national elections predicted for November, even though Spain’s economy is expected to grow faster this year than any other economy in the Eurozone. Unemployment is still a massive 24% and it seems, from the voters, that the social impact of the economic recovery is still not being felt by enough people. On a regional level, the Balearic community suffered its (Continued on page 18)