The spokesman for the Canarian Coalition (CC) in the San Bartolomé City Council, Juan Antonio de la Hoz, confirmed to La Voz that the decision of Ángela Aparicio and himself to resign yesterday from government responsibilities was motivated by the express request made to them by the insular dome of CC after meeting with their coalition partners this Monday night. "We are complying with what our insular organization has told us and what the pact table seems to have agreed on Monday," he said. The insular president of CC, Juan Santana, conveyed the decision to De la Hoz during yesterday morning and in the afternoon the resignations were already registered in the Ajei City Council.
De la Hoz stressed that the two CC councilors have strictly submitted to party discipline. The Political Council of CC last Tuesday decided that its councilors should ask Miguel Martín to dismiss his counterparts from the Popular Party (PP) to try to resume negotiations with the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the critical sector of the Party of Independents of Lanzarote (PIL), and so they did. This time they presented their resignation to the delegations of government areas also complying with the orders of the insular dome.
However, the spokesman for CC in the Consistory, Juan Antonio de la Hoz, revealed that Miguel Martín, a member of the Canarian Nationalist Center (CCN) and formerly of CC, has not wanted to dismiss the popular councilors because there is no public political commitment from the PSOE to enter to govern in San Bartolomé with the councilors of the coalition and the PIL. "Miguel told us that he is willing to dismiss the PP councilors, but when he sees that the majority is duly formed," he pointed out.
De la Hoz had the responsibilities of Culture, Heritage, Environment, Citizen Participation and Festivities, while Education, Housing, Agriculture and Livestock were carried out by Ángela Aparicio.
The PIL councilors will resign today
The great novelty was provided by the former insular president Celso Betancor, who announced last night the harmony of his councilors in San Bartolomé, Candelaria Ledesma and Carlos Martín, who will almost certainly also leave their positions this Wednesday. "We have met with everyone except Carlos Martín, to whom I will now convey the decision we have just made to leave the government group," he explained.
CC would not support a motion of censure
Miguel Martín remains governing in minority with his party colleague, José Manuel Morales, and with the three councilors of the PP. In any case, Juan Antonio de la Hoz warned that the CC councilors in San Bartolomé would not be willing to sign a motion of censure to remove Martín from the Mayor's Office. "It would be very embarrassing to support a motion of censure against the person who headed our list in 2003," he said. The councilor referred to the commitment of the tripartite that, according to him, proposed to guarantee the stability of the Corporation forming a government group as peaceful as possible. "For us this means that you don't have to cut off anyone's head," he added.
The PIL councilors in San Bartolomé, Candelaria Ledesma and Carlos Martín, seem to be hidden and do not want to give statements, however, Juan Antonio de la Hoz said that the PIL councilors "are thinking about resigning, but it is not finally known what they will do".
San Bartolomé has 17 councilors: PSOE (6), CCN (2), CC (2), PP (3), PIL (2), Nationalist Party of Lanzarote (1) and Citizen Alternative (1). For a motion of censure to prosper, the socialist councilors would need at least 3 more votes.
In the hands of the insular directions
The councilors of the PSOE, CC and the PIL failed to close an agreement to form a majority and govern in San Bartolomé, then, it is assumed that in the future the insular directions of the formations will be the ones that make the final decisions. De la Hoz is very clear about it and bluntly expressed that "if we do not agree in San Bartolomé, let the pact table resolve it".
The mayor of Haría and negotiator for CC at the pact table, José Torres Stinga, refrained from contextualizing the resignation of the CC councilors in a measure of pressure for Miguel Martín to leave the Mayor's Office. Torres Stinga alluded to the fact that the intention "is to strictly comply with the terms of the pact", he did not even say openly that CC intends the mayor's seat. For Torres Stinga, the most important decision would be for Miguel Martín to dismiss the three PP councilors.Meanwhile, the socialists of San Bartolomé maintain their position of wanting the Mayor's Office, while the insular direction does not deny it, but neither publicly states that it supports its councilors.
