Election Special - Part Three Nationalism Or Not?

Biel Barceló - Més

If popularity alone were to decide the outcome of the regional election, then Biel Barceló might well be the next president: one survey at least rated him much more highly than other candidates.
As things stand, though, it is fair to assume that he will not be the next president.
But why is it that he might attract high popularity ratings?
Més per Mallorca, the grouping of which he is leader, may well play a part in the next government but it would be a junior part: the polls rank it at a similar level to Ciudadanos and below Podemos.
Més is a coalition that might find itself in a coalition.
Its most prominent element is the PSM, the Majorcan socialists, and Barceló is a PSM man.
But while its left-wing principles will appeal to some of the electorate, it is the other main PSM ideology which probably holds the key to Barceló’s popularity.
Though there isn’t what you would call fervent nationalism in Majorca (or the Balearics), the PSM, Més and Barceló tap into a sentiment of  “Majorca-ness” and of defending Majorca’s interests.
Allied to the fact that he does get a good deal of press coverage, it is this nationalism from which he derives much of his support.
On top of this, there is an environmentalist agenda - the Greens (Iniciativa Verds) are part of Més as well - while the PSM has, in past coalition incarnations, demonstrated its environmental commitment; it did so during the 2007-2011 PSOE-led administration, for instance.
There was one particular episode during that administration which said a great deal about the PSM and about the politics of enviro-nationalism in Majorca.
It had to do with the golf course being planned for the Son Bosc finca next to the Albufera wetlands.
The environment minister in that administration was from the Unió Mallorquina (UM), but he was booted out along with his party when corruption allegations against the UM reached a crescendo.
The PSM were given the environment portfolio and immediately put a stop to the golf course development, which had been favoured by the UM.
Was this not simply a case of environmental concerns taking precedence?
Well, yes and no.
Just as important was the bitter rivalry between the PSM and the UM.
They were two political sides of the same coin, the nationalist coin: one to the left, one more to the right. If the PSM said black, the UM said white.
But with the UM ejected from government and imploding, the PSM firmly and decisively assumed the nationalist agenda.
This nationalism runs through a great deal of Més thinking. Its proposal for a Majorca/Balearic airline has to be seen in this context.
But to define Més as being somehow rabidly nationalist would be an overstatement.
 Barceló would like there to be an opportunity to vote on independence, but he will know that it would never be won. Among its key policies, therefore, are those of a “new” economic model based on quality tourism (it is against all-inclusives and for a form of proper regulation of private holiday apartments), diversification through technology investment and support for new businesses and entrepreneurs.

Latest opinion poll estimation: 6 seats (out of a total of 59).

Jaume Font - El Pi

When the Unió Mallorquina collapsed, it gave birth to a new entity called the Convergencia. At roughly the same time, Jaume Font was leaving the Partido Popular to form his own party, La Lliga Regionalista.
Following the elections in 2011, the two parties merged. The result was Proposta per les Illes, usually known as El Pi (the pine).
Font represents something of the old school.
He was once the mayor of Sa Pobla (for the PP) and he was a minister in the Jaume Matas government of 2003-2007. When he faced corruption allegations (that were dropped), he fell out with José Ramón Bauzá, whose ethical code was going to disqualify him from standing at the last election because of those allegations. But Font wasn’t disaffected solely because of this.
He was from a PP that was more in tune with regionalist and linguistic sentiment than Bauzá.
Ideologically, the two could not see eye-to-eye.
The merger with the Convergencia effected, there was the issue of where El Pi stood on nationalism.
As it was to turn out, the emphasis was placed on regionalism. i.e. a desire for greater regional autonomy.
The nationalist agenda, one that the old UM had stood by, was quietly dropped. But in abandoning it, Més was given a clear run.
A curious thing about El Pi is that it hasn’t become much of a force.
Has it been because of an association with the past corruption of the UM? Maybe it has been.
Or maybe it is because it has simply been sidelined, without a compelling narrative.
Ciudadanos might be said to occupy some of its political territory, many old-school PP supporters will still back the PP despite their disagreements with Bauzá, Més has the nationalism sown up, Podemos has a vitality that El Pi does not have.
In certain municipalities in Majorca, El Pi will probably still do reasonably well; those where the UM used to be strong and where the corruption of government in Palma was a world away.
But when it comes to the parliament, it is down among the also-rans.
If it picks up one seat, it will have done well.
Yet, one feels it should be doing much better than it is. Font is not unpopular and nor is Antoni Pastor, the current mayor of Manacor and another exile from the PP. It is a party of essentially moderate views with a strong affiliation with traditions of language and culture.
It would scrap TIL trilingual teaching and create a grand “pact” to improve education, seek a far better funding arrangement for the Balearics from national government, attempt to improve the islands’ transport connectivity.
But the trouble is that its objectives mirror those of other parties.
It will survive the election because of municipal performance, but as a parliamentary political force it will be out in the cold.
Latest opinion poll estimation: 1 seat.

Tomorrow: Francina Armengol of PSOE/PSIB and José Ramón Bauzá of the Partido Popular.