Cha...cha...cha...changes?
04/June/2007 12:44 .Local life
As local
elections come and go, this one came and went fairly
disappointingly. What the national campaign trail
lacked though, the post count analysis may prove more
interesting.
Even though both main parties have claimed astounding victories, the vote was clearly split leaving room for manoeuvre and pacting with smaller groups. Locally, Loja maintained the status quo and Miguel was returned as superman for another four years. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion, the only question concerned the extent of his majority. The PP played all their cards and managed to gain another concejal (from 5 to 6) still leaving them a little too short of an absolute majority (well short thank god), whilst the CPL stayed pretty much as they are with their rather nifty 2 concejales. Given the PP´s publicity machine compared to the CPL, I think the CPL deserve a bit of applause for their efforts and feel they should be given some token office for their efforts - medio ambiente for example - or transport.
Meanwhile Miguel the Man lost one concejal but retained the city as a bastion of PSOE support for the next administration.
Nationally, Valencia, Murcia and Madrid showed their rightist leanings rather alarmingly whilst other cities have to pact with IU or nationalist groups to take control.
As I said,
overall a rather disappointing result. The country
seems uncertain what to think and both sides seem to
play off undermining the other, and thus leading to a
new level of division and suspicion unseen in recent
years. Perhaps it will all calm down by the general
elections next year. I doubt it. The age of consensus
politics seems over in Spain, the years of tip-toeing
around issues in the aftermath of the transition
appear to be well over. A rough ride may be ahead,
but at least it will be one in which we know where
the different roads lead. Better that than the bland
style of politics so supported in the UK and the US.
Perhaps this is where real change occurs.
Even though both main parties have claimed astounding victories, the vote was clearly split leaving room for manoeuvre and pacting with smaller groups. Locally, Loja maintained the status quo and Miguel was returned as superman for another four years. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion, the only question concerned the extent of his majority. The PP played all their cards and managed to gain another concejal (from 5 to 6) still leaving them a little too short of an absolute majority (well short thank god), whilst the CPL stayed pretty much as they are with their rather nifty 2 concejales. Given the PP´s publicity machine compared to the CPL, I think the CPL deserve a bit of applause for their efforts and feel they should be given some token office for their efforts - medio ambiente for example - or transport.
Meanwhile Miguel the Man lost one concejal but retained the city as a bastion of PSOE support for the next administration.
Nationally, Valencia, Murcia and Madrid showed their rightist leanings rather alarmingly whilst other cities have to pact with IU or nationalist groups to take control.
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