English votes count

Last Friday night there was an evening arranged by the Town Hall for the local foreign community to attend. I'm not one for these get-togethers so I never had any intention of going, but my partner Susanna went along with some friends to see what it was all about and sip some free wine.

It turned out to be a bit odd really, from the feedback I got. There was one of the local politicans there who made his speech in Spanish, which was then translated, and it was basically about making sure that everyone is registered on the padron and also registered to vote. The elections are in May 2006 you see.

Now to me this seems a bit like "you English, register now as we need your votes!". Considering that the foreign community here must now make up nearly 50% of the local population, the English votes could obviously count for a lot.

But why would they be doing this?

Well, talking to the Spanish it seems that there is a lot of bad feeling towards the current members of the local town hall. I think it's all related to the recent arrest of the ex-mayor on corruption charges. It seems no one trusts the town hall very much any more. Mind you, I haven't exactly had the best experience with them myself!

So the English vote could count for a lot really, but what are we going to be voting for? Most of us don't even know who's in the town hall now and who's proposing to stand or what. Everyone really needs to spend some time and really understand what each party's policies are before making any decision whether or not to vote and for whom.

I don't think it should be based on a glass of wine or two.