There is only one PP
The Popular Party of the Balearic Islands by Marga Prohens seems to play at being a catch-all party, an Anglo-Saxon expression that can be translated as "party that collects everything." It is true that the PP has a proven tradition of collecting everything, but in this case it refers to a different context: the catch-all party, or a party that encompasses everything, is what presents itself as a transversal or consensus option, capable of bringing together voters of different ideologies who find a point of agreement in the proposals of these parties. Evidently, such finely tuned balances are difficult to achieve and easy to lose. Proposals or attempts to catch-all party In recent history, the most notable parties in Spain are Felipe González's PSOE and the PP, which was involved in the traffic between Aznar's first and second terms. In Catalonia, Jordi Pujol's Convergence was a great vote-gathering party (and the current PSC of Salvador Illa tends to imitate it). In the Balearic Islands, it was Gabriel Cañellas' PP. In recent Europe, this role has been played by Angela Merkel's CDU, or (at its best) the République En Marche Emmanuel Macron's. In any case, these are always parties—and leaders—capable of obtaining absolute majorities at the polls.
The Balearic People's Party (PP) likes itself, and likes itself even more since it's been in power, and wonders why it shouldn't aim for an absolute majority in the 2027 elections. To achieve this, it's trying to behave like a party (and Prohens, like a leader). catch-all, a vote-getter from everywhere. The problem is that they don't seem to have fully understood the concept or how to apply it.
For now, The Balearic Islands PP is the party that signed a Green Pact in Brussels., while deregulating construction in its home. It's the party that refuses to condemn the genocide in Gaza, yet applauds students demonstrating in support of Palestine. It's the party that claims it will not overturn the Language Normalization Law or the Minimum Decree, but will introduce Spanish as the teaching language, even going so far as to promote a Linguistic Segregation Plan in public schools. It's the party that creates a Roundtable for Sustainability while promoting touristification, which it both declares is a priority to stop and denies exists.
To be a vote-getting party, you have to excel in the difficult art of convincing broad sectors of the population through democratic debate. This shouldn't be confused with trying to deceive everyone, incurring in such blatant contradictions that they become unsustainable. You can play with ambiguity, if you know how. What isn't possible is trying to be different parties at the same time, which is what the current PP in the Balearic Islands seems to be attempting.
Because there's only one PP, and not just here, but in the entire Spanish state. The gathering parties, the parties capable of mustering large majorities, have one thing in common: they tend to gravitate around what's known as the political center. Center-right, center-left: it doesn't matter, in any case, they always move within this orbit. And nothing is more external or further from the centrist orbit than governing with the far right, whether in coalition or through agreements. There is no centrist far right, nor is there currently any far-left party that can symmetrically compare with Vox. Except for Bauzá, no one has ever been as far removed as Prohens from Cañellas's ability to appeal to the vast majority of the citizens of the Balearic Islands. And it's because he governed hand in hand with the fascists.
