At 1.15pm on Saturday 13 June 2015 a new local government will be sworn in to lead San Antonio for the next 4 years. PSOE, PI and REINICIA have formed a coalition pact to force out PP for the first time in 35 years. PSOE are socialists, Reinicia err towards the left and PI are centre right so on paper this pact looks like a disaster waiting to happen but island politics is a strange animal where most politicians are close personal friends and where family members run against each other for different political parties. The end result is that most parties have similar issues and objectives so really it’s all down to personalities. On paper PP & PI look like perfect bedfellows, mainly local business people with centre right beliefs, however scratch away at the surface and you hear rumours of personality clashes and broken promises between the 2 parties. PI with local lawyer Juanjo Ferrer as their leader have had 2 seats over the last 4 years and have to endure being consistently thwarted by the majority PP party in everything they have proposed so now is payback time. Memories can be very long in local politics.
PSOE led by Pep Tur ‘Cires’ will now lead the local chamber. Cires has done a fantastic job as the president of Es Nautic Sant Antoni so let’s hope he can bring this philosophy over to the town hall with his new inexperienced team He has consistently said that San Antonio needs to ‘change’ its touristic model which will be a major challenge but he now has 4 years to make his mark.
This just leaves REINICIA who are the newbies at the table. They have reached out to the 18-40’s and through social media they have been constantly banging the drum about how San Antonio has got to change – now they will get their chance to lead rather than criticise. Their undoubted enthusiasm will have to be tempered with the realization that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ however with their passion for San Antonio they should be able to make a difference. Whether they can work with the other parties remains to be seen as they will be like the hyperactive kid in the classroom who wants to do everything NOW so their charismatic leader Pablo Valdes will have his work cut out to keep the wheels moving and everything calm.
For local residents & businesses it is going to be an interesting ride, the overall feeling is that San Antonio has to change but only time will tell whether a Tri-party coalition is the best way forward. I sincerely wish Sres Tur, Valdes and Ferrer all the very best for the next 4 years and sincerely hope that they have a positive effect on our town and if they get it right they will get my vote in 4 years time. But if they don’t………
No one said it was going to be easy. Watch this space. MM
"MAN IN SAN AN" by Martin Makepeace 