ACN
Alemán believes that there is an "obvious step backwards" by CC between what they proposed in July and what they are proposing now. "We all remember that CC in July accepted the regional electoral list and even made it a condition that it be on a single ballot. From there, what seems evident is that CC has had an internal involution and that it is not a party capable of maintaining a regional position regardless of whether it has insular sensitivities."
In that sense, Juan Carlos Alemán acknowledged that "no party is exempt from having insular sensitivities or tensions, but the difference between one and the other is that the tensions can be overcome and maintain an autonomous position for all of the Canary Islands and propose a regional list."
According to the socialist general secretary, "CC is afraid of electoral reform because they cannot tell us that if the barriers are lowered, the Parliament will be atomized because the electoral barrier of the councils is 5 percent, and if we look at the councils, the majority political parties are basically represented."
Therefore, he considers that what the nationalist coalition proposes to reduce the electoral limits at the island and regional level "is clearly insufficient" and the increase in deputies per island "is a proposal that begins to consider the increase in population and is an advance, but we believe that the regional list is much more advanced because it allows the homogenization of an Archipelago called nationality and it should be, and it would be more logical, that the nationalists would lead the regional list."
With this, the leader of the Canarian socialists responds to the proposal made public yesterday by the president of the Canarian Coalition (CC), Paulino Rivero, which does not include the regional list, contemplates the expansion of nine deputies, maintaining the insular electoral districts, and includes a symbolic reduction of the percentages of votes necessary for the parties to access the Chamber. The reduction of the electoral limits is limited to lowering from 6 percent to 5 percent of the votes obtained at the regional level and from 30 percent to 25 percent those achieved in each Island, as conditions to obtain a deputy.
However, Alemán acknowledged that what was proposed in July by the nationalists was "a nebula" and now there is "an official proposal" which is better, in his opinion, to negotiate with someone who has a proposal than with someone who had one "but changed it every day." Alemán pointed out that "we don't like the proposal, but now the negotiation opens and we can talk."
"We know that CC has a proposal that is very different from that of the PSC in some things. For example, the PSC agrees to lower the electoral barriers of an insular and regional nature, but much more than what CC proposes."
"Unnecessary expense"
For its part, the Canarian Nationalist Center (CCN) showed yesterday Tuesday, one day after the nationalist announcement, its outright opposition to the electoral reform proposal formulated by CC, which aims to increase by nine the number of deputies in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, which currently has 60 members.
The national president of the CCN, Ignacio González, believes that «what needs to be done is simply and plainly lower the electoral limits to 3 percent regional and 5 percent insular». The argument used by the centrists is that if to enter the councils it is necessary to get more than 5 percent, it is not understood that the insular percentage is raised to access the Parliament.
«The two elections, both for the councils and for the parliament, are made by insular constituencies and therefore the same percentage should be used», says González, who explains that «it is not necessary to increase the number of deputies, as CC intends, because that would entail a greater public expense from the autonomous coffers to an unnecessary point».
While the CC electoral reform proposal wants the two capital islands, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, to increase by three deputies, while La Palma, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote would have one more each, for the CCN this bet leaves La Gomera and El Hierro with the same deputies as now, so it marginalizes them from the increase in representatives, according to the CCN. «In this way, the provincial balances achieved in the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands of 1982 are broken, something that cost us a lot of effort and that we cannot now throw overboard», concluded Ignacio González.
Regional list
José Manuel Soria, president of the Canarian 'populars', believes that the CC electoral proposal shows two things: "CC does not believe in a regional list and gives the impression that it does not believe much in the reform of the Statute either because it is a proposal that clearly goes against that unusual interest that CC seems to show to reform the Statute of Autonomy."
According to Soria "now we will also see what is the position of the PSOE that left the presentation arguing that only if there was a regional list would it return and now CC puts on the table something that has nothing to do with a regional list, after trying to put in before an disguised island list that did not pass".
"I hope that over the next few days the PSOE will maintain its proposal for a regional list, which is the PP's proposal, and we can have an electoral system in the Canary Islands that is somewhat more proportional than what it currently represents because the key to all electoral reform is to reduce the tremendous disproportion and injustice that exists in relation to the weight of the vote of some Canarians with that of others", said the president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria.
Finally, Soria said that he has the impression that "with this what CC does is tell its militants, supporters or voters that it is not in favor of reforming the Statute of Autonomy because they have put on the table a proposal made on the basis of raising here, lowering there, to the pure and exclusive convenience of the electoral interest of CC and we cannot treat these issues as if it were a partisan interest".
