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Sunday, May 24, 2015

Local elections 2015

Today voters are asked to cast their votes in the local and council elections in Spain and the Canary Islands. Politics in mainland Spain have changed a lot and politics in the Canary Islands even more so. However,  the political upheaval on La Gomera in recent times was   an especially thorny issue full of surprises and it couldn't have been more complicated.
The 'political landscape' has changed completely on the island and this blog was at times lost for words and at other times wise enough to shut up. The times in between we filled with issues that avoided the party-political debate and the biased news, just to stay sane and independent.
Local politics are all too complicated on La Gomera to explain even in a 300-page book and by the time this would be published it would be ages out of date - such is the rate of political turmoil on the island. Suffice to say that there are several new and 'ex-old' political entities and sub-parties standing for election, changes of affiliation, new formations, parties that don't see themselves as parties, local political veterans re-inventing themselves and others not wanting to run for office again. Add to that all the fantastic promises and the exposure of newly-found, long existing problems - mostly denounced without proposing a solution. Just gimme your vote now !
Today those who have any opinion at all - and that includes a lot of people from abroad who are resident and have registered their vote - can and should have their say and influence in what promises to be a landmark election with a greater variety of contenders than ever before in Spanish local and colonial history. 
Count me out, as I'm not a permanent resident anymore !
However, I'm keeping a close eye on the results on La Gomera and will post the outcome in detail here once reliably available...

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