Jason MoorePalma09/04/2019 09:47
TW

Is the so-called expat vote no longer so important? Or have local political parties decided that as turnout among non-Spanish expats is so low in the elections that it is no longer really worth all the trouble? Calvia is the place where the non-Spanish vote has been proclaimed as vital in previous elections. But looking through the list of candidates for the various parties it appears that only the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has a non-Spanish-born candidate, Dolina Reynolds, who has successfully run the Foreigner´s Department in the council for the last four years.

The Partido Popular, which championed the cause of the foreign vote in previous council elections, do not appear to have a so-called foreign candidate in their list which is a real break with tradition. About 10 percent of all voters in Calvia are non-Spanish but the turnout in previous council elections has always been rather poor; only about 25 percent of all those non-Spaniards eligible to vote actually did so in the council elections. The Partido Popular went to long lengths to target non-Spanish voters.

They organised numerous rallies and events which attracted a large number of expats. I remember one veteran expat telling me that she had been wined and dined by the political parties in Calvia for weeks as she attended all the events. When voting day finally came she was asked by party officials not to forget to vote on the big day in Calvia. Rather red-faced she answered that she wouldn´t be voting because she didn´t live in Calvia.