"Today, here, we present a team of people to make that dream of being able to change the political course a reality. People with whom we have been working for months, trying to quickly understand this thing they call politics precisely so that, in a while, politics will be something else." With these words, imbued with the discourse of "change" and the break with the "old politics" of Podemos, Carlos Meca, general secretary of the formation in Lanzarote, presented his list to compete in the primaries that the party celebrates to configure its list for the Island Council. Under the name of 'Sí que Podemos', Meca heads this list in which he is accompanied by 17 people.
"After so many years of darkness and bad smell, institutionally speaking, this is the time to open the windows," said Meca, who defended a policy "capable of looking citizens in the face", to "banish excuses" and to "bring fresh air into the offices of the Cabildo."
This 39-year-old from Arrecife has a degree in Economics and Business Administration. For seven years, he served as head of the Culture department of the César Manrique Foundation and has also worked as a volunteer in the training of prisoners in penitentiary centers of Gran Canaria. Meca actively participated in the 15-M movement of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he resided then, and is also the promoter of the satirical website El Agitador.
The alternative to Sí que Podemos is the candidacy Claro que Podemos, with Guacimara Páez as an aspirant to be the head of the list to the Cabildo. Both lists will be measured in open primaries, in which independent candidates also compete. The voting for these primaries is held online between March 25 and 29 and its results will be announced on the 31st of this month. From the formation they emphasize that "everyone" can participate in the voting, registering on the party's website, and they emphasize that it is possible to choose the people that most convince them, "whether they come from one list or another", which will possibly give rise to a final list in which members of the two candidacies converge.
Ethical values, transparency, ecology and public services
During the presentation, some of the party militants who accompany Meca in his candidacy spoke, such as Plácida (Playo) Martín. This graduate in Chemical Sciences dedicated to teaching focused her speech on the "urgency" of implementing "sustainable mobility plans", the "promotion of the consumption of local products" and her commitment to the Balance of the Common Good, an index in which "success is not measured by monetary indicators", but ethical ones.
Mara Benítez, a ceramic artisan who defines herself as "self-taught by profession", defended "transparency" as a weapon to tackle "the crisis of confidence in politics", while Pablo Ramírez, manager of real estate companies, advocated for the "defense of public services" and the "dignity of each of the inhabitants of Lanzarote."
