Left-leaning PSOE make history in Balearics elections after becoming largest party in the regional assembly

FOR the first time the left-leaning Partido Socialista (PSOE-PSIB) has won the biggest share of the vote in the Balearics regional parliament elections.
They collected a 27.28 per cent share of votes cast to win 19 seats compared to the 22.15 per cent (16 seats) of the Partido Popular (PP) conservatives. Right wing Ciudadanos took 9.93 per cent of votes and five seats, while left wing Podemos collected a 9.71 per cent share and six seats.
Although the PSIB are well short of the 30 seats needed for an absolute majority, Francina Armengol’s party will stay in power leading a left-leaning pact.
Other parties to win seats in the regional parliament were:  Més per Mallorca, four deputies and 9.19 per cent of the votes; Vox, three deputies and 8.16 per cent; PI, three deputies and 7.32 per cent of the votes; and Més per Menorca, two deputies and 1.34 per cent of the votes.
In the 2015 elections, PP won 20 seats, while PSIB won 14; Podemos, 10; MÉS per Mallorca, 6; El PI won three; MÉS per Menorca, three; Ciudadanos, two and Gent per Formentera, one.
It was another historic day for the PSIB in the elections for the Consell de Mallorca (island government). The party led by Catalina Cladera took 10 seats, three more than in 2015 to become the biggest party for the first time.
The PP continued its decline, losing three seats to hold seven. In 2011 it had been by far the biggest party with 19 representatives on the Consell.
Third on the list is Més per Mallorca with four councillors, while far-right Vox entered the consell for the first time with three representatives the same as Ciudadanos, IP and Unidos Podemos.
A leftist coalition will continue to run the Consell.
In the European Parliament elections, the PSOE got 29.34 per cent of the Balearic Islands vote, the PP 21.08 per cent, Ciudadanos 11.8 per cent, Podemos 10.5 per cent and Vox 7.64 per cent. This broadly reflected the national vote where the PSOE won 20 seats and the PP 12.