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By Humphrey Carter THE political negotiations have only just begun but in Andratx, for example, sources contacted by the Bulletin yesterday, were already talking of a left wing pact taking over the council after the Partido Popular lost its majority.

Whatever happens in Andratx, a pact is going to control the local council and even Partido Popular sources have admitted that finding a political partner is going to difficult, if not impossible.

The PSOE Socialist party's candidate for mayor, Xisco Femenias, told the Bulletin yesterday that he and the party were very pleased with the two new council sets they won on Sunday.

The Partido Popular's seven councillors, three more than in 2004, was not enough to secure a majority. This year there were three more council seats up for grabs because of the increase in population over the past four years and, according to the Socialists, the PP actually lost 804 votes.

Femenias, whose party fielded the youngest British candidate in the Balearics, Silvia Durant, said that the drop would have been more if it not been for the PP's “scare tactics.” “They did not campaign on political issues, their campaign was based on personal attacks and scare mongering,” he said. Referring to the planning corruption scandal that has rocked Andratx and the arrest of the former PP mayor, Femenias said that, to a certain extent, the electorate punished the PP “for using the Town Hall for its private business deals. “But the PP hit back claiming that all political parties and politicians are the same and I think we failed in getting across the message that we, the Socialists, are in fact more concerned about working for the good of the municipality and the population. “We have made contacts with the other parties and a PSOE-led coalition is one of the options,” he said.