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Regional elections in Mallorca
Local elections throughout Spain are due on 22nd May, and the incumbent Socialist party is expected to take heavy losses as the Spanish people express their discontentment with the current ecomonic situation. The main opposition party, the Popular Partido (PP), who are on the centre-right, are likely to be the main beneficiaries.
The last regional elections four years ago focused on helping the construction industry and provided housing subsidies, but lack of cash prevents any such stimulation of the economy. This time round, the main attention is on job creation as unemployment soars to 21%. The Mallorcan PP have recognised the importance of small and medium sized businesses to provide jobs and are proposing help by simplifying the process for starting up a business.
Tourism of course, provides the main employment in Mallorca. Support of the tourism industry is therefore high on the agenda with a cut in VAT proposed for this sector, and a reduction in taxes for the ports and airport. How to promote out-of-season tourism, such as history & culture, hiking & cycling, is also under debate. The structuring of existing programmes to improve tourism on Mallorca such as the Playa de Palma project is another hot topic amongst the political parties.
