Ten days from now, on May 22nd, Spain will hold municipal as well as regional elections. Whilst there is the classical left-right divide all across Spain, with the conservative parties in opposition likely to make the pendulum swing back in their favour, one has to record that both sides of the political spectrum seem to be forever partitioned into a large number of factions and splinter parties, some of them new on the rostrum. It may well be that there will be long faces on the night of the election day when the victory party gets spoilt by the political parties themselves.

There are 32 parties competing in Mallorca for 33 seats in the Consell de Mallorca. There are 45 parties in the Comunidad Autónoma Illes Balears competing for power in the Govern de les Illes Balear and one of 33 seats in the Parlament de les Illes Balears. There are 35 political parties in Mallorca competing for a seat in the municipal councils of 53 towns and pueblos. In some of these towns, up to 15 different parties compete for the voters’ ballot.

Foreigners have a vote in municipal elections here in Mallorca, as long as they are nationals of countries belonging to the European Union, have a residency in Spain and are registered on the Lista Electoral. They are not entitled to cast their vote in the regional elections, though. Today is the last day for postal voting.

The photo was taken in Son Carrió, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 8th, 2011. The time was 12:10:12.