Support for Antich despite election debacle

THE Spanish Sociality Party (PSOE) has given their full support to the leader of the party, Francesc Antich, who was defeated in the local elections on Sunday. Antich will remain as their leader, they said in a communique yesterday and underlined their support for the policies he introduced during his four years in office. The fact that many, including the tourist tax, are to be scrapped by the incoming conservative local government, is a major mistake, according to the socialists. The socialists said that they wanted to win control of as many councils as possible through pacts and coalitions. They stressed that they had important representations on over 40 councils. Their share of the vote also increased. But their former coalition partners, the Majorcan Socialist Party, have blamed Antich for their defeat at the polls. They claim that Antich was too aggressive with the tourist industry. The criticisms have been dismissed by Antich. The former Balearic leader said that he was confident that the so-called “rainbow” coalition could be reformed to rule the Council of Majorca, despite the criticism from some of his former partners. Antich had claimed that, going into the elections, he had been confident of success. He said that he thought the Partido Popular would win but without a majority. Antich, next month, will take up his place as the new leader of the opposition. “We will try to be as effective in opposition as we were in government,” he said yesterday.