29/04/2005 00:00
TW
0
By Humphrey Carter BALEARIC president Jaume Matas was yesterday dragged into the latest round of the “Calviagate” dispute between the current conservative Partido Popular mayor Carlos Delgado and the PSOE socialists Margarita Nájera who he unseated at the last election.

On Wednesday the socialist opposition in Calvia council called for Delgado to resign for the alleged “misuse of justice” in lawsuits brought against former mayor Nájera. Yesterday, Nájera took the matter a step further and demanded that the PP's Jaume Matas make an “immediate” apology for Delgado's alleged misconduct.

Nájera faced the press yesterday flanked by the secretary general of the PSOE Majorca, Francina Armengol, and the secretary general of the PSOE Calvia, Francisco Cano.

Nájera claimed that Delgado, a lawyer by profession, filed no less that eight lawsuits, totalling 80 years in jail if guilty, against her “knowing that they were false.” Francina Armengol said that in one of the cases lodged against Nájera by Delgado, the mayor of Calvia apparently accused his predecessor of perverting the course of justice and bribery in a planning matter. “This is not how the political process works,” Armengol said before accusing tha PP in Calvia of having drawn upon a strategy “to gain power.” PSOE party spokesperson Antoni Manchado has already accused Delgado of “manipulating our judicial system for electoral gain,” this week and Francisco Cano dropped a bombshell yesterday when he announced that the socialist party intends to call for a vote of no confidence in Calvia in order to “change the mayor.” The socialists have already urged the UM, Majorcan Union Party, which formed the coalition with the PP to give Delgado the necessary votes to govern with a majority in Calvia, to back moves to replace the mayor on the grounds that Delgado is “ethically unfit to represent” the municipality.

Delgado has denied the charges and refused to resign - he is even planning to lodge on official complaint again at the Balearic judiciary over the way in which some of his lawsuits have been handled. But yesterday the socialists stepped up the pressure on Delgado by revealing their intention to call for a vote of no confidence.

Margarita Nájera was ousted at the last elections by Delgado after 12 years in power and the socialists have accused Delgado of having “falsely accused Nájera in order to gain the headlines and discredit her.”