RADIO SILENCE

I CAN’T say I am surprised, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. I never saw politics as a career change, merely a coffee stop in a cheap roadside cafe on a long journey. The coffee wasn’t bad, but the surroundings were a bit scruffy and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

This is probably not the best moment to write this article: the morning after the night before, but I have a deadline. So, what happens now?

Well, I remain a councillor until June 17 when the next circus act takes place. We find out who has agreed to pact with whom in order to run Mijas for the next four years.

It has been an interesting journey, in which I have learned a lot about myself, and had confirmed many things that I already thought I knew about the underbelly of political life and the schizophrenia of the international community in my municipality. Apathy and determination could be considered an oxymoron, but it best describes my experience of the international response to the elections. Perhaps I should expand and say

“apathy, cock­up, and disinterest, versus the fierce determination of a percentage of the community to retain representation. I don’t have official figures, but I calculate that only around 8 per cent of the internationals who could have voted, actually did vote, and I am truly grateful to every one of them who made the effort, some even coming out to vote after recent surgery.

So, why are we on radio silence? Be ­ cause murky things are going to be happening over the next two weeks. Offers will be made to persuade the king makers into pacts, and neither of the two major parties are the king makers, but for security over the next four years, there will be some big offers made to ensure avoidance of ‘motions of no confidence’ in what will be a delicate balance. It will make keeping 100 plates spinning on the stage look like a walk in the park. No one will want to p*ss anyone off in the next days, so better not to say anything, just in case.

So, my take on it all? No one will be able to carry out their election programme in its entirety. We will have a government which is pussy footing around itself for four years so as not to offend. I hope I am wrong, but it is my take on it. And, who do we have to thank for this? Most definitely, the international community: one third of the Mijas population. Despite the determination of the relatively few, the real many just don’t seem to care about the place they have chosen as their home. I don’t get it. Why are we, as a community, so enclosed in our virtual reality bubble that we happily hand over our bank account details and pin numbers to whoever, and not be bothered about what they do with our money? It beats me.

The contradiction is, however, that even though I feel the International Community has badly let itself down, I still care about it. But I guess that’s life and my cognitive conflict to sort out.

PS: At the time of writing this column the results were unknown.