The forces of reaction in Ibiza learned a hard and valuable lesson in the recent local government elections. The political party which for so long ignored the thousands of voices protesting against the new road systems on the island and the way that certain businesses seemed to be benefiting from their construction found itself unceremoniously dumped at the polls.
In a campaign which saw more mud slung than you could build a golf course with and more name calling than in a school playground, the final victors were the socialists who took control of the island
government.
The outgoing 'conservative' Partido Popular now recognise that the main cause of their defeat was their intransigence in ignoring public opinion on the motorways and the intervention of businessman Abel Matutes (whose daughter has just lost her job in the Government) who used a press conference to call one politician a tree monkey and orang utan who should be in a zoo.
The new socialist Government, headed by the popular ex-mayor of Ibiza town Xico Tarres are already talking about scaling down the roadworks by not completing the remaining 500 metres of tunnel under San Rafael and by changing the overpass at Jesus – known as Stella Mountain, in honour of Abel's daughter Stella – which is the witness to the daily queues of traffic that it was supposed to solve. Rumour has it that Xico isn't that keen on golf either.......