The island president of the PP, Ástrid Pérez, looks confidently at the next electoral appointment, which will be held in May of this year. "We hope that citizens understand that the Popular Party has brought political decency to Lanzarote", she assured this Monday at a breakfast with the media, where she insisted that she is confident that her party will obtain an absolute majority in the Island Council and in Arrecife.
"We are not demagogic, we have a great capacity for management, we are serious and committed. It is time to change the way of doing politics in Lanzarote. We deserve an absolute majority because I believe that we have done a good job and we hope for the support of the citizens", asked the president of the PP. Ástrid Pérez did not want to give names yet and assured that probably next week she will say who the PP candidates are for the May elections.
During this breakfast, Pérez took stock of this legislature and recalled that in October and December 2009, the Popular Party began to assume a greater share of responsibility for the censorship motions that were approved in the Cabildo and in Arrecife and that raised the party to be part of both government groups.
"In 2010 we entered the government, we have ceased to be a testimonial force and now we are important. We have been able to say that we are the government alternative. No party and no citizen will be able to question us about our good management and good intentions. We want citizens to perceive that we are capable of changing the course of Lanzarote's politics", insisted the president of the PP.
Ástrid Pérez has offered voters "seriousness, commitment and little demagoguery, compared to the tension of other parties that care little about public management and a lot about partisan and particular interests." And, in her opinion, the PP has been the only one that has "complied" with its 2007 electoral program. "It has been the only one that has strictly followed the principles of its program", she indicated.
Criticism of the PSOE
In this sense, Ástrid Pérez recalled that in the middle of the electoral campaign, the PSOE proposed "working for the interests of the most disadvantaged". However, months later "it took a 180 degree turn". "As soon as they entered to govern in this legislature, they raised the IBI. The PP always said that it was possible to govern by lowering taxes and Cándido Reguera lowered the IBI in 2010", defended the president of the PP.
Likewise, she has also spoken about the management of the Tourist Centers and Inalsa, before they were managed by the PP and the Justice, respectively. "It could not be managed as the PSOE and the PIL have done during the last 20 years", denounced the president of the popular formation, who insisted that the CACT "have improved" since the PP is in charge.
"The numbers do not lie. We made a management balance of the first six months of 2010 in the CACT, when no agreement had been adopted with the workers, and only in current expenses we have managed to reduce by 1.6 million euros the losses that there were the previous year, with Carlos Espino at the head. In the coming months we will finalize the balance of 2010 and we hope that the reduction of losses will be greater than 2 million euros", said the president of the PP, who recalled that the Centers is a company "very beaten" in which "business" and not "political" criteria must prevail.
The work in the Cabildo
Ástrid Pérez also wanted to highlight the work that the PP has done since it is part of the government group in the Cabildo. "In 2007-2008-2009, the Cabildo was paralyzed, I think we have carried out an important exercise of work and execution of projects", she defended. Among these projects, she highlighted the University Campus of Lanzarote, "which has been unblocked thanks to the PP", as well as the increase in geriatric places in the island Hospital.
And, in short, 2010 has been for Ástrid Pérez the year "of good management of the PP". "It has been a historic year because we have never before had such important levels of power as we have now", she said.
Promises for 2011
With a view to the elections in May, the president of the PP has assured that Lanzarote "needs to move forward" and that it is the PP who is going to "provide the security and confidence to get out of the crisis". "We have done it in 2010, and we will continue to do so, we will adopt measures aimed at increasing local politics and island economic activity to lower the level of unemployment", she said, while saying that the popular formation will try to unblock important issues for the island, "such as the port and the airport".
