In Molina de Segura, the PSOE won the elections again, but it will not be able to govern. The eleven councilors obtained, one less than in 2019, are insufficient to reach an absolute majority, which will be able to add PP and Vox. “We have to feel proud because we have once again been the force with the most votes and we are going to fight until the end for what the citizens have asked for,” said the socialist candidate, Eliseo García Cantó, moment after being received with applause at the headquarters of his party for the socialist militancy.
But far from celebrating a victory party, the atmosphere in the Casa del Pueblo was one of sadness and resignation. The socialist mayor encouraged his people and told them “to hold our heads high because we have won at almost every table.”
The Socialists touched 13,000 votes, but fell 4.5 points compared to their 2019 results. This decrease, together with the fact that neither Podemos – Alianza Verde nor Juntas por Molina get representation, make a new coalition government of the parties of left. Despite everything, García Cantó was “very grateful” to all the candidacy and his militancy. “We are going to continue working, leading and fighting for the transformation that this municipality needs,” stressed the acting mayor.
As a pact between left-wing parties is not possible, the balance has tipped in favor of the right-wing formations. With close to 11,000 votes, the popular ones grow five points, their municipal representation increases to nine councilors and their candidate, José Ángel Alfonso, is placed in the first starting line to be sworn in as mayor on June 17. «It has been a very satisfactory result because we have increased by more than a thousand votes and we have gone from seven to nine councilors. It is a reflection of the work we have done,” said the mayor of the PP.
Vox doubles the results of four years ago, reaching 17.36% of the votes counted and will have five representatives in the municipal corporation. “We are the party that has grown the most and we do not know how far we are going to go,” remarked its head of the list, Antonio Martínez, at the headquarters of his political formation.
possible pact
“We have options to change Molina de Segura. We have to sit down to see if there is a common project, rather than talk about ideologies”, was the first declaration of intent of the PP candidate regarding the possibility of a pact with Vox. And he added that in the first needs that Molina has, such as security or street cleaning issues, “we are on the same line and there are common points. But the bottom line is the need to change Molina. Although I also say that it is about being mayor at the cost of dignity.
his three promises
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1. Mobility
Bet on the transformation of the city through mobility plans and the green ring to renaturalize Molina. -
2. The doubling
of the highway that connects Molina-Alguazas and the improvement of road safety on the Torrealta and La Ribera roads. -
3. Security
More police officers to reach the European ratio and more security cameras on the streets.
In Vox they have “their hand outstretched”, according to their spokesperson and candidate, Antonio Martínez. “We also know with whom we are not going to agree, but what our voters must be clear about is that their votes will be valid and they will not be trampled,” declared the right-wing party candidate.
Therefore, the PSOE has to digest this bitter victory because it has no other options left to seal alliances to its left, since Juntas por Molina, with 2.69%, and Podemos – Alianza Verde, with 1.83%, They will not have representation in the Molina de Segura Town Hall.
citizens disappears
However, the new Active Urbanizations party was close, which has become the fourth political force by adding more than 1,500 votes. But it did not reach the 5% necessary to enter the cast of the 25 members that make up the Molinense corporation.
Election day was worse for Ciudadanos, who disappeared from the political map in a resounding way. The party headed by José Juan Morcillo loses 10 points and, with only 365 votes, becomes the seventh political force in Molina, with just over 1% of electoral support. In 2015 it had five councilors, in 2019 it was down to three and now it has been wiped off the map. And it seems evident that their votes and their councilors have moved to the spectrum of the right that is made up of PP and Vox.
Cs barely surpasses two formations that were contesting the elections for the first time, Por Mi Región, which obtained 144 votes, and the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain, which stayed at 68.
With an electoral census of 52,972 people, 34,012 votes were cast in Molina, although there were 305 invalid votes and 294 blank ones. Participation amounted to 64.21%, slightly higher than that registered in 2019. The day passed without relevant incidents in the 87 tables that were distributed throughout the neighborhoods, districts and urbanizations of Molina de Segura. Of course, the rain that fell in the middle of the afternoon interrupted the good rhythm of the voting, although it was later activated again.
A long-distance runner who can lose the mayoralty
The socialist Eliseo García Cantó (Molina, 1976) has passed with flying colors the political revalidation that these elections represented for him and his family, but it will not be enough. After the departure of Esther Clavero in January 2021, he was proposed by his colleagues to head the socialist project and became, without planning it, a councilor. He was not in his plans. Proof of this is that he was ranked number 13 in the previous candidacy.
Once the challenge was accepted, he began a long-distance race that has led him, in little more than two years, to cover all corners of the municipal area, neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, “game by game”, as he likes. remark. And the neighbors have valued this personalized attention, although the support received does not ensure the mayor’s office.
With a PhD in Physical Education from the University of Murcia, a degree in Journalism and Advertising, among other academic achievements on his extensive curriculum, García Cantó is married to Ana, a teacher, with whom he has two children.
The main endorsement of his management has been to bring investments to neighborhoods, districts and urbanizations. And the conviction that the city will undergo a great transformation when all the projects financed with European funds, which have contributed 23.5 million, are executed. But it also has the approval of the national government to carry out three projects that would come to solve the problem of flooding in the boulevards of Chorrico, Morcillo and Mendoza.
His coalition government has gained muscle with the economic data because, since 2016, unemployment has fallen by more than 20% and Social Security affiliation has grown by 30%. The results of the polls, however, make things difficult for him and complicate his continuity at the head of the Consistory, since a PP-Vox pact could be forged that would remove the Socialists from power.
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