Estaras elected PP leader in the Balearics

Over 66 percent of the party had supported Estaras in response to her call on voters to “stand up and be counted” in order that the party can return to power as swiftly as possible. Pitting her political wits against rival Carlos Delgado - the influential mayor of Calvia who was left with only one third of the votes - Estaras committed herself to representing the “real needs of the community,” saying that she had full confidence in herself to take her policies forward but that supporters must back her to the hilt in order for them to be carried through. “I've been working up to this moment for months,” asserted Estaras pictured here with the National General Secretary of the Partido Popular, María Dolores de Cospedal. Estaras made it clear that she wanted to dispell the climate of fear and suspicion that had surrounded current politics triggered by a succession of scandals and corruption. She was adamant that acting with decency and honour were decisively more important than “winning.” Estaras, saying that she has led more than half her life in the political areana, was unambiguous in her support of the family as the driving force of life on a local, national and international basis, adding that striving to provide an educational heritage for the next generation was of key importance. She pledged to give Castillian Spanish a high profile as the language of the nation whilst paying cultural tribute to the “language of our fathers” whether it be Majorcan, Ibivenco or Minorcan. A third language, she said, would prove increasingly valuable in a competitive world. She claimed that the present regional and national Socialist governments were not doing enough to tackle the threat of recession.