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THE Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), which according to early public-opinion polls is favoured for the European elections next Sunday, has only secured the winning position in this voting once before which was in the elections of June 1989, the year when the highest number of people ever refrained from voting. In other years, the Partido Popular (PP) has always been the most-voted-for party, including when the Socialists had more votes that the PP in the whole country. Only one week away from the election, the most noticeable factor surrounding the campaign this year, is the lack of interest it holds for the “man in the street”, if this is compared with the “historic” turn out for the general elections last March when participation in the Balearics was as high as 70 percent, specifically 69.45 percent.
Three in one
The highest participation registered in the Islands in European elections was in 1987. Out of the total voting population of the region, 66.76 percent exercised their right. That year however, three elections had been called on the same day: the European, the regional, and the local Council elections. This was certainly a reason for the high turnout amongst the voting population, a burst of enthusiasm which hasn't been repeated since. They were, furthermore, the first elections. As in the rest of Spain, the forthcoming European elections are a question of two parties: the PSOE and the PP. Any other groups tend to be “extras” only, searching out allies throughout the regions.