A NEW ELECTION TWIST

IT appears that there might be a good turnout amongst non-Spanish European Union residents in next month's local elections. The actual official census of foreign voters has increased to almost 20'000 because 1'500 foreign residents, who thought that they were eligible to vote found that their names were missing from the census. They complained and the problem has been resolved. But what is interesting is that only 220 Spaniards complained but amongst the non-Spaniards the figure was far higher. This means that 1'500 foreigners are obviously keen to vote. Many of those non-Spanish Europeans who complained are in Ibiza, which is key if the Partido Popular want to retain power in the Balearics. If the PP fail to win in Ibiza then really they can almost forget about governing the Balearics. Minorca is rock-solid socialist and Majorca is almost rock-solid Partido Popular. But Ibiza is key. Now the Balearic government are not too popular in Ibiza over their controversial road building programme and there have been plenty of protests. Do the non-Spanish Europeans want to show their displeasure in Ibiza or to support the government? We will know on polling day but the local elections have taken another intriguing twist with the non-Spanish community very much at the forefront once again.