And so I return to our sunny shores to find a seismic shift in the local power has taken place whilst I was away. The usual allegations of postal fraud, ballot box stuffing and vote buying can now commence.
Let’s see… quick roundup of Sunday’s municipal election results?
Mojacar: Rosmari has returned to power, with an absolute majority (6 councillors). UM10 got 3, PSOE 2, MPSM 1, MPM 1. The rest, including Angel Medina, are out in the cold (Cuidadanos Europeos did not quite get enough for a seat, although they got almost as many votes as last time). Guess that means the carpark in the middle of town will go ahead?
Turre: the current bunch of crooks got booted out, and the crook who was indicted as a crook but served his time was voted back in. Arturo Grima (PP) got an absolute majority in Turre, with 6 councillors. PSOE got 3, IU got 1, PA got 1.
Los Gallardos: Maria (PSOE) returned to power with a stronger base than ever (8 councillors). She would have gotten in no matter what flag she flew. PP got 3. That’s all folks.
Albox: PSOE returns to power with 9, the PP got 8. That’s all. Huge lurch to the right. (In 2007: PSOE got 11, PP got 4, PDEAL got 2).
Zurgena: PA got 4, PSOE got 4, PP got 3. Will Candido [mayor last time, PA] (arrested and charged with urban corruption) be able to negotiate his way back to power? Let’s find out – it’s all in the hands of the PP at the moment.
Vera: Shock result as Felix Lopez, the last mayor, lost power. The PP got 8 seats, the PA (Felix’s lot) got 7. PSOE got 2. Unless he mixes in the with PSOE (unlikely!!!!) the PP now rules Vera. What does this mean for the Priors? Actually, what does this mean for Keymare and their many friendly “arrangements” with the townhall? The new mayor, incidentally, used to be my optician (until the laser eye surgery), Jose Carmelo. Has the opticians in front of the college.
Garrucha: Much the same. PP got 7, PSOE got 6. No other parties presented.
Arboleas: Some changes here! PSA-EP-And got 7 seats. PSOE got 3. PP got 1. Cuidadanos Europeos got none, so in the town with a 50% mix of Brits, either no-one voted, or else they all voted for the Spaniards. I have no idea who PSA-EP-And is.
El Ejido: The system works! The crook and his mates were booted out, and Juan Enciso’s reign of terror has been broken. The PP got a huge 13 seats, the PSOE got 4, PdeAl (Juan Enciso) 4, UPyD 2, IU 2. (In 2007, Juan Enciso’s PdeAl got 15, PSOE 6, PP 4. That shows you what a difference being caught stealing 150 million euros makes). As an aside, now that Enciso is no longer mayor, will he be sent back to jail as he was only allowed out because he had to keep running the place?
Overall:
To the best of my knowledge (I only spent 5 minutes researching this) not one Brit has obtained a seat, anywhere in the province. Let me know if I’m wrong. Later: Yes I was wrong. Jim Simpson (See his blog here: http://jimszurgena.blogspot.com) was returned at position number 4 in the Zurgena list.
There has been a huge swing to the right in these elections, especially in Almería, where voters have punished the government for the 5 million unemployed, stagnant economy and rising taxes. In 2007, the PP and the PSOE got exactly the same share of the vote: 39% each. In 2011, the PP got 50% of the vote, the PSOE just 31%. (See full stats here).
For the full list of election results from Sunday, see El Mundo 2011 election results (in Spanish).
Hi David,
PSA is an offshoot of PA.
Thanks Jim – I’ve twigged on now. Long day travelling!
Can you confirm if you were returned as a councillor? I wasn’t sure of your position on the list.
I direct readers interested in a first hand glimpse of the election to Jim’s blog: http://jimszurgena.blogspot.com/
Yes David I still have a seat (as No 4) but awaiting the negotiations to see how we work it out. We were about 10 votes short of a 5th seat which would have made all the difference!
Thanks for that Jim -thought you were further down the list than number 4.
So the British community has at least one seat. Any other expats of any nationalities voted in anywhere?
Jessica Simpson is party leader of Mojácar Se Mueve and gets one seat. There is also a Brit in Albox.
In Mojácar, there is some confusion as RosMari gets 6 (according to the newspapers) or 7, according to local sources. Ciudadanos Europeos may have got one seat and MPM none. PSOE may only have one rather than two.
At any rate… it’s time to go build an underground car-park and finish off trashing a once beautiful pueblo!
In my village of 743 registered voters, 222 abstained and 12 posted a void vote. There was just 5 votes between the 2 parties. The theme of apathy and abstained votes seems to be a common thread across the country as a whole.
A friend tells me they have a Brit on the council now, he lives in Albanchez.