Armengol aspires to a third term with a list full of independents

The Balearic president Francina Armengol incorporates four independents in the top ten of the lists with which she is running to revalidate her mandate.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
13 March 2023 Monday 12:25
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Armengol aspires to a third term with a list full of independents

The Balearic president Francina Armengol incorporates four independents in the top ten of the lists with which she is running to revalidate her mandate. It is about her chief of staff, the period Quim Torres; the regional head of Mental Health, Oriol Lafau; the leaders of the Union of Cooperatives, Malena Riudavets, and the expert in labor and employment economics, Llorenç Pou.

The rest is made up of highly trusted collaborators, with whom he has worked closely during the pandemic, such as the Minister of Model Economics, Iago Negueruela; that of the Presidency, Mercedes Garrido, and that of Salut, Patricia Gómez. The heads of the Parliament list for Menorca and Eivissa, Marc Pons and Pilar Costa, have been ministers and are also people very close to the president.

Armengol aspires to revalidate his third term and for this he has also strengthened the lists of the Palma City Council, one of the weak points of the left. The number two of the current mayor, José Hila, will be the current councilor of Hisenda, Rosario Sánchez. In the Consell de Mallorca, where there are also elections, the lists have also been reinforced with the presence of several deputies in Parliament.

Some relevant names of Balearic socialism in recent years fell from the candidacies, such as the president of the Parliament, Vicenç Thomàs, who appears in a testimonial position in the Parliament. PSOE currently has 19 deputies out of the 59 that make up the Balearic Parliament and Armengol governs thanks to the alliance with Podemos and Més, with whom it has 29 deputies.

It also has the external support of two other parties: Més per Menorca and Gent per Formentera, an alliance that brings together all the left-wing parties on the island. The polls give a very tight result, although the configuration of the list, with a large number of independents, is designed to repeat the mandate.

Armengol has configured a candidacy with the aim of returning to govern the islands, but if this is not the case and the left does not continue in the Balearic institutions, a clear successor does not appear on the lists. This may mean that the president has the will to continue and to steer her possible succession, should it arise.