Can MÁS por Mallorca overcome its electoral ceiling?

PalmMÁS per Mallorca reached its electoral peak in 2015, when it garnered nearly 60,000 votes and won six seats in the Balearic Parliament. This is the most significant result for the eco-sovereignist party, which has historically secured four seats and between 35,000 and 40,000 votes (four representatives and 37,651 votes in 2023). The party has called a general assembly this weekend to decide how to approach the 2027 elections. While it has a stable voter base, can the island party aspire to broader appeal?

Although MÁS hasn't achieved the leap in votes and seats that its counterparts in the Basque Country and Galicia—EH Bildu and the BNG—have made in recent years, its leaders highlight the fact that it has maintained its representation in a context of decline for Unides Podem and rise for the PP and Vox as a success. However, the political platform proposal to be voted on this Saturday addresses the need to take a further step. "Más's great challenge is to transform national consciousness into a transformative political majority," the text asserts: "Más is not—and should never be—a token or secondary force." How? "We have enormous room for growth if we engage with people who see that greater self-government means a better life," argues the party leader, Lluís Apesteguia. Along the same lines, he points to one of his priorities: the importance of motivating the membership. "We need new ways of communicating and raising awareness," he affirms.

The mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, who is emerging as one of the key figures in the permanent executive committee's focus on municipal issues, insists, in turn, on the importance of "discussing global strategies, but also local ones": "If we defend sovereignty, it's because we know our territory."

The document from the committee, which will be put to a vote by the membership, also points to the party's need to "address debates" such as immigration. "We must emphasize the need to respect human rights, and point out that the problem is the economic model, without exporting the discourse of the xenophobic Catalan right, of an exclusionary sovereignty," says Congressman Vicenç Vidal. However, the first point of the text prioritizes the fight against the housing crisis. It also highlights the need to offer alternatives to the tourism-based economic model, and presents feminism and the defense of care work and the welfare state as central pillars of its discourse. Furthermore, it emphasizes the defense of the territory and the fight against climate change, antifascism, and the defense of the Catalan language—elements that form the essence of the party.

Warming up for 2027

Apesteguia arrives at the meeting, where the executive committee is also being renewed, unopposed. He has placed his core team on the standing committee: Member of Parliament Maria Ramon as Secretary of Organization, and Més per Sóller councilor Laura Celià as head of Finance. In addition, Member of Parliament Ferran Rosa, Oliver – who is assuming a more prominent role in the party – and the Deputy Mayor of Manacor, Carme Gomila, will also be part of the executive committee. Several sources within the party consulted consider internal cohesion essential just a year and a half before the elections. "We must focus on 2027," summarizes the mayor of Esporles, Josep Ferrà: "The executive committee represents continuity and reflects the party's diversity." The party's extended executive committee will also be elected again, and there are several candidates running for this position.

However, the party still has one outstanding issue: motivating young people. The leadership is still licking its wounds after the clash that took place during the assembly on November 14th. The assembly decided to remain within the Sumar parliamentary group in Congress with 67% of the membership in favor and 31% against. This decision came after a virtual tie before the summer, which highlighted the criticism from a significant portion of the young members of the Mallorca Nova organization, who favored breaking the agreement with Sumar. "It's a closed debate," Vidal maintains. However, insiders suggest that the debate was heated. "It was requested that those whose vote was contingent on their position not be allowed to vote," says a source present at the assembly, referring to Vidal and other officials associated with Congress: "They felt insulted." According to the same sources, some party leaders "reproached the young people for their harsh tone": "The situation is now awkward; the leadership is trying to steer it back on course because they're worried about the leadership change."

Regarding this, Apesteguia defends the debate despite the tensions: "I believe in assembly-based decision-making." "We must differentiate between tactical and strategic alliances," he continues: "The Sumar alliance is one of the former, and deciding to continue is not a blank check." "We must make the Spanish government understand that we are here, that we will demand what we deserve, and explain this very clearly to the membership," Oliver advises.