VOTING IN CALVIA

LAST week I said in this space that it was a great pity that the mainstream parties, the Spanish Socialists and the centre-right Partido Popular, did not appear to be courting the so-called foreign vote in Calvia in this year´s local elections. Four years ago both parties invested a sizeable amount of time and effort to try and persuade non-foreigners to vote.

But while the two bigger parties appear to be rather slow on this issue the smaller independent parties which have been set-up in the municipality are actively courting the so-called expatriate vote and so far they have been quite successful with their ranks swelling with non-Spaniards who are either standing as candidates for their respective parties, or who are heavily involved in their campaigns. This is great news on two fronts.

Firstly because it rather breaks the two party system which has existed in Calvia for many years and also independent parties are always good for democracy. In some instances I can see more non-Spaniards voting for an independent party rather than one which is mainstream. It looks as if it is going to be an excellent political campaign in Calvia and if the independent parties are successful they could break the political status quo. All in all, residents of Calvia, get ready for an interesting political campaign.