It was the former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson that uttered the now famous quote that a week is a long time in politics. Locally, however, it is nowhere near that long, little more than 24 hours in fact, the length of time that it took, last week, to turn Orihuela politics on it’s head.
On Wednesday the opposition parties, less Vox, signed a motion of censure before a notary, requiring that a vote be taken at the next Plenary meeting, scheduled to take place on 25 April, that would see the removal of the mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, and his Partido Popular team, from office.
We then saw the announcement from PSOE and Ciudadanos that they had agreed a pact to form a new government with PSOE leader Carolina Gracia appointed as the new mayor.
It stated that the municipal council of Orihuela would be formed by councillors from the PSOE and Ciudadanos, but with initially, the councillors from Cambiemos/Podemos, who are also supporting the motion, remaining on the sideline.
As such, the Ciudadanos group, led by Deputy mayor José Aix, would change government partners just a year before the next elections, removing it’s support from Bascuñana and the Partido Popular to continue its journey into next year’s municipal elections, hand in hand with the Socialists.
If the motion goes ahead, the new government of the capital of Vega Baja would begin its journey as a minority government. The socialist group currently has six councillors and Ciudadanos has five. But it would be the support of Cambiemos/Podemos, with three councillors, that would be the key for the motion of censure to come to fruition, as they would then outnumber the PP and Vox who have eleven councillors in all.
Later that same day the mayor sacked the five Ciudadanos councillors, José Aix, Luisa Boné, Mar Ezcurra, Ángel Noguera and Antonio Sánchez, from the coalition government. He also dismissed all of the Ciudadanos advisers and the local mayors that had been previously appointed by the C’s.
We then had the announcement from the provincial coordinator of Ciudadanos in Alicante, Javier Gutiérrez , who confirmed that the motion of censure against Emilio Bascuñana, “does not have the support of the party”, and therefore, it is not endorsed by either Valencia or Madrid. He went on to say that the five Ciudadanos councillors did not have party approval to form a new coalition government with the PSOE and could now be facing disciplinary measures of their own.
José Aix, however, said that he has not received any communication from Ciudadanos in Alicante regarding the opening of a disciplinary file before going on to say on Thursday that PSOE and Ciudadanos had already agreed on an “urgent and social” budget for Orihuela which will be introduced as soon as they assume government.
Carolina Gracia told the press that she is sure that “we are going to work well together.” In fact, she maintains that “in just a few weeks a number of key issues will be unlocked”, because “the PSOE and C’s, together with the support of Cambiemos/Podemos, which also includes CLARO, have many points of agreement”, with “social policy being the common thread”.
It is understood that the full agreement will be made public in the coming days although we believe that in the new formation Ciudadanos will resume all of the roles previously held by their 5 councillors while PSOE will take on the roles vacated by the PP. Cambiemos/Podemos will not join the coalition government although they have agreed to work together.
On Friday the Orihuela PP said that if the move goes ahead, twenty projects “will be put in serious danger”. Spokesman Rafael Almagro said that the motion of censure “comes loaded with folly and personal interests and it will sow instability and chaos”.
He calculates that “there are more than a hundred projects in serious danger, between 20 and 30 very important ones that will be difficult to move forward, including, on the Orihuela Costa alone, the new civic centre, the emergency centre, a second health centre, a new secondary school and the extension to the Los Dolses school.
Meanwhile, despite the loss of the five councillors, Mayor Emilio Bascuñana, still went on to restructure his government team with Councillor Rafael Almagro adding Culture to his current role while Dámaso Aparicio assumes Youth and Beaches. Víctor Valverde assumes Infrastructure, Services and Maintenance, Parks and Gardens, Water and Public Lighting while Bascuñana retains the powers of Urbanism and Planning, Human Resources, Security and Education, although for quite how long is still anybody’s guess.
