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By Humphrey Carter

POLITICALLY, all will be revealed in the Balearics next week when local parties, in municipalities where no one party won the majority in the local elections, are expected to finally decide with which other party or parties a coalition to govern is to be formed. Yesterday the vice-secretary of the Partido Popular conservative party in the Balearics, Rosa Estarás, said that “every pact has its sacrifices for all those involved although the ideal situation would be that, especially at regional and national government level, the party which wins the most votes, governs.” While the Partido Popular have swept back to power with the majority in the Balearic government, in Cantabria, although the PP won the most votes, it has been pushed out of power by a coalition between the PSOE socialists and the Cantabria Regional Party, similar to the scenario four years ago in the Balearics. The Cantabria situation has been heavily criticised by prime minister and PP president Jose Maria Aznar.
Estarás, number two in the Balearics, was more diplomatic yesterday, trying not to make any comparisons between left wing pacts in the Balearics and Cantabria, but on the political system she said “with regards to the electoral system, it is one thing what we would like, and another what is possible. “Coalitions involve all parties making sacrifices and that is what we're working on at the moment, both at local council level and with regards to the new Insular Council of Majorca, where we've got to form coalitions.” “There is nothing wrong with political pacts, providing they're viable and positive for the public. “What we can't have are coalitions like the unnatural pact we've had in the Balearics for the past four years,” Estarás added. “What the electorate made clear on May 25 is that it wants viable and solid pacts .” However, with regards to the offer the Partido Popular has made the Majorcan Union party about forming the new Insular Council, there has yet been no reply - the future in Calvia also remains in the balance with the Majorcan Union party candidate, who won two councils seats, being courted by the PP and the PSOE socialists, the latter hoping to cling on to 20 years of power. The Insular Council is the last refuge for the outgoing left wing coalition government; unless it is involved in forming the council, it will be unable to provide any real opposition to the Partido Popular majority government.