POLITICAL UPS AND DOWNS

OUR sister newspaper, Ultima Hora, published an extensive opinion poll over the weekend which showed that if there were early elections tomorrow, the opposition Partido Popular would win an overall majority but the turn-out would almost be below 50 percent. The recent cases of alleged political corruption have taken a heavy toll on the electorate and a sizeable number have decided not to vote at all. It is interesting though that the Partido Popular would win a majority because the party has been involved in numerous political corruption allegations relating to when they were in power.

The fact that the electorate is prepared to vote them back into office clearly shows that the corruption claims have failed to take a major hold with some sections of the electorate. The poll makes bad reading for the leader of the Balearic government Francesc Antich whose coalition government has been battling for unity. Antich has hinted that he would not be standing again. Some political commentators have said that one of the reasons why Antich did not call early elections last week when his coalition government appeared to be on the rocks was because he believed that they would be defeated. He says, though, that an early election is still a possibility.