Editorial: Multi-party government

This local election campaign is proving to be boring to say the least. There appears to be little campaigning on a large scale by any of the parties and also there is little effort to attract the so-called foreign vote. It appears that everyone is resigned to the fact that there is going to be no overall winner in this election campaign and we are heading for a coalition regional government and perhaps even coaliation councils. The opinion polls suggest that the centre-right Partido Popular will be the most voted party but they will fall short of an overall majorty. Now this could leave the door oppen for either a socialist/nationalist coalition or one headed by the Partido Popular. Either way a coalition government will lead to some political uncertainty and in these difficult times it could hit the economic recovery. At the moment the Partido Popular reigns supreme across the Balearics after winning a landslide victory at the last local election four years ago. But times have changed and the popularity of the Partido Popular has declined. The centre-right party points to its economic track record which has seen the local economy exit recession and thousands of new jobs created. But the opposition socialist party claims that the gap between the rich and the power is now even wider  than it was before. Also, they claim that all the new jobs which have been created are lowly paid and on short term contracts. A coalition government appears to be on the horizon.