Less than a week before the new municipal Corporation is formed, a door has been opened -or rather two- towards another formula different from that of a minority government of the PP. Some initial conversations between the Independent Party (PI) and Vox on the one hand, and with the PSOE on the other, have put on the two tables a possible agreement that would unseat the popular from the mayor’s office, after losing an absolute majority at the polls that they have maintained during the last three legislatures.
If the confluence of votes from Vox (5 councilors) and PSOE (4 councilors) bear fruit, they would make Sebastián Mateo mayor, who has led the independent candidacy after being part of Ciudadanos in recent years. Mateo won three councilors in the municipal elections with his recently created party to capture moderate votes.
“We are not going to give our votes to anyone, but we have never said that we would not accept the votes of others,” explains Mateo. In order for any proposal that goes through the independents to be consolidated, he assures that it would have to be accepted that at least 60% of the proposals of his program are fulfilled. “We will sit down with the PSOE and, on the other hand, we will sit down with Vox, and if there is no agreement, then each one to their home,” says Mateo, who does assure that “what I will never do is a government with the PP ».
He believes that, if there is no other alternative to occupy the mayoralty, “the PP will agree with Vox after the general elections.” Mateo acknowledges that “we are not the ones who have to pull the strings, because we are the ones with the fewest councillors.” Regarding the difficulties of a coalition government in the minority, he assures that “we will make the best decision for the municipality, which would be better than the situation we have reached today after 12 years of the PP, with a management of Ángela Gaona that is very deficient in the lack of control of spending and lack of control of municipal contracts, with no forecast of annual work, with total neglect and the conflicts that it has caused with the Police. We can’t go on like this.”
For its part, the PSOE sees “no other possibility than a PP minority government,” says candidate José Lorenzo Martínez. He assures that “we do not contemplate any other formula nor are we summoned to meetings to reach agreements.” On the viability over time of a local government in the minority of Ángela Gaona, he acknowledges that “the PP called us to ask us if we would be willing to reach specific agreements when they present their proposals, and we have answered that we are not going to block measures if they are positive for the municipality.
Red lines
From Vox they are open to negotiating a possible local government with the independents. “We have red lines, and one of them is to negotiate with the PSOE, but if the Independent Party seeks support elsewhere, we do not know and do not want to know,” says the Vox candidate, Antonio Martínez Aniorte, who was a councilor for the PP in opposition during the legislature of the socialist government.
He does not see more difficulties in a government of 8 Vox councilors with the PI than in one of 9 PP councillors. “She would have the same complications as Ángela Gaona, and also with better proposals for San Pedro del Pinatar,” says the local candidate for Abascal’s party, which has increased its municipal representation from two councilors to five.
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