Miquel Ensenyat

Miquel Ensenyat Riutort (born 30 October 1969) is a Spanish politician of the party Més per Mallorca. He was the mayor of Esporles (2005–2015), the president of the Island Council of Mallorca (2015–2019) and his party's leader in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands (2019–).

Biography

Ensenyat was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England to Mallorcan immigrants.^[1][2] He graduated in Social Education, and also studied theology and philosophy before moving to the town of Esporles at the age of 24.^[1]

In 2003, Ensenyat was the lead candidate of the Socialist Party of Majorca (PSM) in the municipal elections in Esporles. They lost to the People's Party (PP), but through a motion of no confidence, he became mayor in 2005, serving for a decade.^[2] In 2011, he was elected to Mallorca's Island Council as third in Més's list, and was an unsuccessful candidate in elections to the Congress of Deputies.^[2]

Ensenyat became president of the Island Council in June 2015, with the support of fellow left-wing parties the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands (PSIB) and Podemos.^[3] In June 2018, he took 68% of the votes to be Més's candidate in the 2019 Balearic regional election, ahead of Fina Santiago.^[4] He was elected, while the party fell from six to four seats.^[5][6]

Ensenyat is in favour of ensuring the civil rights of LGBT people, as well as defending the Catalan language and Mallorcan culture and heritage.^[1] As a gay man and a Catholic, he wrote to bishops to denounce priests endorsing right-wing candidates.^[2] Ensenyat has been harassed and threatened over his sexual orientation.^[7]

References

1. Font, Miquel Àngel (22 June 2015). "Miquel Ensenyat, de la teología a la política" [Miquel Ensenyat, from theology to politics]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2021.
2. "Miquel Ensenyat, de alcalde de Esporles a aspirante a president del Govern" [Miquel Ensenyat, from mayor of Esporles to aspiring president of the regional government]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 18 February 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
3. "Miquel Ensenyat, presidente del Consell de Mallorca" [Miquel Ensenyat, president of the Council of Mallorca]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 22 June 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
4. Cortés, Alexander (9 June 2018). "Ensenyat barre a Fina Santiago y será el candidato de Més en 2019" [Ensenyat beats Fina Santiago and will be Més's candidate in 2019]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2021.
5. Roca, Clara (27 May 2019). "El PSIB-PSOE se convierte por primera vez en el partido más votado en Baleares y gobernará si renueva el 'Pacte de progrés'" [PSIB-PSOE becomes the most voted-for party in the Balearics for the first time and will govern if the "progressives' pact" is renewed]. ElDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2021.
6. Serra, Pere; Sastre, Lina (26 May 2019). "¿Quiénes son los 59 diputados que integrarán el Parlament balear?" [Who are the 59 deputies who will make up the Balearic Parliament?] (in Spanish). Menorca.info. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
7. "Ensenyat recibe dibujos anónimos que le atacan por su condición sexual" [Ensenyat receives anonymous drawings that attack him for his sexual orientation]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 1 August 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2021.