Highs and lows in Calvia

By Jason Moore WHAT an amazing 48 hours its been for the Calvia council in one of the worst political incidents the island has seen in recent years. Calvia may be a small municipality with under 30'000 residents but it is certainly one of the most powerful councils in Majorca which is the jewel in the crown for the party which governs it. Over the weekend there was some fantastic newspaper headlines, and one even suggested that the ruling council could resign on mass from the Partido Popular and form a break-away government for the municipality. The problem in Calvia is that gaining a majority is almost impossible. This is why successive councils have been forced to pact; in this case it is a coalition between the Partido Popular and the Majorcan Unionists. Its a marriage which works in other areas but in Calvia it has led to some major squabbles. When Joan Thomas announced that he was leaving the Unionists and would become an independent, who would side with Mayor Carlos Delgado on a number of key issues, Delgado must have thought that Christmas had come early. He could effectively rule without the Unionists because Thomas' vote, and those from his own party gave him a majority. But the early Christmas became a nightmare with the Majorcan Unionists crying foul play and calling on Delgado to disgard the rebel, at once. This same call was made by the leader of the Partido Popular, Jaume Matas, who is also Balearic President on Saturday afternoon. The local branch of the Partido Popular initially resisted saying that they would stick with Thomas. But, yesterday the rebel councillor resigned from Delgado's government team, but he will still remain a councillor and is expected to vote with Delgado on key issues. What will happen next? Difficult to say but I am sure there will be even more twists in this long tale still to come.