The island of Eivissa has become the game board that can decide if the socialist Francina Armengol achieves her third term in the Balearic Islands after the elections on May 28. The imputation of the president of the Consell d'Eivissa, Vicent Marí, of the PP, has given wings to a PSOE that until now had very bad prospects in the Islands. It is not strange that, in recent days, all the depth charge of the Socialists is directed towards the largest of the Pitiusas islands in order to wear down the PP.
The Balearic political debate has moved from Mallorca to Eivissa, where the PP has 6 of the 12 deputies at stake, although some polls even give it the seventh. The PP assures that it has polls that give it 40% of the votes on this island. The elections this May are the closest in the Balearic Islands since 2007, which is why a few votes in Eivissa could be key to deciding a victory.
Marí is being investigated for the direct award of a tourism promotion contract for the island during the pandemic. The winner was a councilwoman with whom he shared government in the Santa Eulària Town Hall when he was mayor of the municipality. The PSOE filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Office, which in turn informed the Prosecutor's Office, which has filed a complaint against it, on suspicion that there may be a crime of corruption.
The intensity of the attacks by socialist leaders against the president gives an idea of what is at stake in these elections. Four ministers of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, Pilar Alegría, María Jesús Montero, Teresa Ribera and Isabel Rodríguez, have used the case to try to get Alberto Núñez Feijóo to give explanations. The PSOE spokesman in Congress, Patxi López, has also made references to the case.
Feijóo, for his part, was on the island on Sunday in a massive event in which, in addition to himself, the president of the Balearic PP and aspiring to preside over the community, Marga Prohens, along with the president of the Eivissa PP, intervened. José Vicente Marí Bossó, senator and one of the members of the economic hard core of Genoa. Vicent Marí was present at the event, but Feijóo avoided taking a photo with him and made no mention of the case.
The strategy of the Socialists of the Balearic Islands is to point to Marí at all times, but from the PP they assure that the attacks will not damage the image of their president, who will probably also be the party's candidate on the regional lists. They assure that they are turning the president into a "victim" that will even guarantee them more votes.
In addition to Eivissa, the other point that can decide these elections is in Formentera. The Balearic Parliament is made up of 59 deputies, of which 12 are elected in Eivissa and one in Formentera. On this island, with just about 6,000 female voters, just over 2,000 votes serve to win a seat in the Balearic Parliament
During several legislatures, it has been the deputy of Formentera who has put and removed presidents. Matas lost the first elections in which he ran, in 1999, because Fomentera voted massively for the left after, shortly before the elections, a dark plot was discovered to register Argentine citizens on the island, who emigrated years ago from the Balearic Islands. , so that they supposedly voted for the PP.
The same deputy from Formentera changed sign four years later, in 2003, and once again gave an absolute majority, in this case to Jaume Matas, who did achieve his goal one legislature late. Formentera's vote is once again very close and its result could be decisive for Armengol to continue or leave the Consolat de la Mar, headquarters of the Balearic Government.
The center of gravity of the political battle has moved from Majorca to the Pitiusas, although a lot is at stake on this island, including the survival of two political forces that now have representation in the Balearic Chamber, but who are risking being or not to be: Cs and the autonomist party Proposta per les Illes (PI).
