09/05/2003 00:00
TW
0

AND they're off...Local political candidates will hit the ground running this morning just hours after campaigning for the May 25 local elections officially got under way at midnight last night. All of the political parties and their Balearic presidential candidates held grand “bill board” posting ceremonies last night to mark the start of campaigning, although most of the main parties have been, albeit unofficially, on the campaign trails for the past few weeks. At stategic points across Majorca, party leaders were gathered for the symbolic ceremonies marking the start of the election race which is expected to be a fierce battle this time around with the left coalition desperate to hold on to power after just four years in government and the Partido Popular, with heavy backing from central government in Madrid, determined to restore Jaume Matas to power after losing at the last elections. Balearic President, Francesc Antich, kicked off his PSOE Socialist party's campaign at their Palma headquarters.
Jaume Matas and the PP's candidate for Palma, Catalina Cirer, held their campaign launch party at a restaurant on the outskirts of the capital while the leader of the UM, Majorcan Unionist party and president of the Majorcan Insular Council, Maria Antonia Munar, pounded the streets of calle Sindicato handing out leaflets and sticking up posters accompanied by the UM's Mayor of Palma candidate Ferrán Trujillo. The PSM Majorca Socialist Party candidate for mayor and the party leader, Balearic vice-president Pere Sampol, held a special rally/dinner in Plaza de las Columnas while the Izquierda Unida (IU) - Los Verdes (United Left-Greens coalition) held their launch gathering at the parties' joint election headquarters in Manacor with the respective leaders of both parties, Eberhard Grosske and Margalida Rossello, in attendence. Both sides have billed the May 25 elections as the most important local elections in decades with the Balearics' future very much at stake.
A record number of European Union and Norwegian residents will also be voting, some 12.500, who could make a difference on some local councils.