If CLARO Had to Fight for the Votes. Then PIOC Must Be Ready to roll its sleeves up for 2027
Peter Houghton — Saying It As It Is
There is an old saying in politics: never underestimate your opponent.
And when it comes to Orihuela politics, I have said before that Orihuela are the masters of the dark arts.
That does not mean we should accuse anybody of fixing an election. It means understanding the political battlefield, learning from history and never walking innocently into a contest believing everyone else will make life easy for you.
Because history has just handed PIOC a warning.
Former CLARO representative Antonio Cerdán has provided contemporary reports showing that problems surrounding voting in Orihuela Costa did not begin yesterday.
They go back years.
In fact, the problems were sufficiently serious that before the 2015 municipal elections an official Orihuela council document recorded extraordinary disparities in coastal voting arrangements. In the 2014 European elections, two of Orihuela Costa’s three polling locations had exceeded 2,000 registered electors: Playa Flamenca had 3,142, while the new municipal centre had 2,834. The document contrasted this with much lower averages elsewhere in the municipality and called urgently for sufficient polling places for the 2015 elections.
Then came 2015.
CLARO subsequently complained of what it called “multiple irregularities” during the municipal elections and announced its intention to submit complaints to the Electoral Board and Ombudsman, as well as a petition to the European Parliament. Contemporary reporting also recorded CLARO blaming voting “chaos” on residents having to travel kilometres to exercise their vote.
Antonio Cerdán now says that thousands of voters were transferred to different polling stations and that CLARO believed the disruption cost it more than 500 votes.
That figure is CLARO’s assessment, not something we should present as independently proven.
But something else is beyond dispute.
The voting arrangements subsequently changed.
In 2016 Orihuela Ayuntamiento announced a redistribution of polling tables on the Costa, explicitly saying residents had complained during previous elections about having to travel several kilometres to their polling station. Nine tables were distributed between locations including Campoamor, Playa Flamenca, Alameda del Mar and Los Dolses.
So perhaps PIOC should study this history very carefully.
Because if CLARO caused discomfort to the political establishment, what does PIOC represent?
PIOC isn’t simply asking for a few more bins, another road resurfaced or another municipal office.
Its ultimate ambition is far more fundamental:
A separate municipality for Orihuela Costa.
If that were ever achieved, Orihuela would lose territory, population, revenue and political control.
That makes PIOC potentially far more politically dangerous to the existing order than CLARO ever was.
And that is precisely why nobody involved with PIOC should confuse optimism with preparation.
If people expect thousands of votes in 2027, prove those voters exist.
Find them.
Inform them.
Help them check their electoral registration.
Make sure they know their polling station.
Check every electoral-census deadline.
Monitor every announced change.
Have properly accredited representatives at polling stations.
Record genuine problems immediately.
Have legal advice available.
And do it all months before election day.
Because the lesson from CLARO isn’t that somebody will necessarily try to stop PIOC.
The lesson is much simpler:
Never assume everything will go smoothly.
Politics is about power, and organisations rarely surrender power enthusiastically.
PIOC therefore needs something more valuable than suspicion.
It needs organisation.
No conspiracy theories.
No accusations without evidence.
No complacency either.
Watch everything.
Check everything.
Document everything.
And challenge anything legitimately questionable through the proper electoral procedures.
Because we already know the mountain is there.
We know the vote only opens the door.
And if PIOC genuinely intends to challenge Orihuela’s political establishment in 2027, it had better arrive knowing exactly how that door works.
Orihuela may be masters of the dark arts.
PIOC’s answer must be daylight.
Transparency.
Preparation.
Scrutiny.
Evidence.
And thousands of properly registered residents turning up at the correct polling station and exercising the most powerful weapon they possess:
Their vote.
“Everyone wants to see the rainbow. Fewer are prepared to stand in the rain.
Everyone may want independence. The question is how many are prepared for the struggle required to achieve it.”
