ACN
It will be from now on when the parties work internally to define the possibilities of this "correction", since both political forces have set the "second or third" week of September as the deadline to close an agreement on the new electoral system, as explained at the end of the bilateral meeting by the representatives of CC, Antonio Castro, and PSC, Francisco Hernández Spínola and José Alcaraz.
This list would be composed of an odd number of deputies, yet to be determined (the PSC proposed 10), would be included in the same ballot as the list of each island -so that you could not opt for a different force in each case- and "political parties must ensure that the territories are represented in it," Castro said, although the socialists do not understand this premise so sharply.
Both sides described the meeting as positive, as several points of agreement were reached and both formations yielded part of their claims. Thus, the socialists were pleased that CC has taken a turn towards "our main claims, which were to modify the electoral system -which is an irreversible process-, create an autonomous constituency and lower the electoral barriers." Despite this, both parties explained that they did not reach a consensus yesterday on the exact details of these last two points, which Spínola recognized as "the central elements."
In this sense, differences remain on the percentage of the reduction of electoral caps, which the PSC wants to lower from 6% to 3% of the autonomous votes and from 30% to 20% of the island votes as indispensable requirements to obtain parliamentary representation. Meanwhile, CC offered yesterday to reach 5% and 25%, respectively, which the socialists consider "does not sufficiently guarantee the democratization of parliament, as it would continue to hinder the entry of other political forces of lesser caliber."
As for the autonomous list, while the socialists are satisfied that CC is considering it, Castro put conditionals to all references in this regard. In this aspect, the PSC lowers its claims by being willing to renounce it being "a pure and hard autonomous list -without attenuating circumstances- composed of ten deputies."
In short, the conditions agreed yesterday are that with the new system no island will lose deputies with respect to those they currently have; that the increase in parliamentarians -"if there is one"- will be in an odd number and at the expense of the new autonomous constituency; that a single ballot will be implemented, so that the island and regional representatives are voted together, which must be, in any case, from the same party; that the electoral system will form part of the articulated text of the normative body of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands, once reformed, thus leaving its current location as a transitional provision; that said autonomous list must be "attenuated" to guarantee population representation, although this is not necessarily the only criterion for choosing its components, according to the socialists; that it is necessary to seek consensus, for which representatives of the other two parliamentary groups, who were not convened (Popular Party and Party of Independents of Lanzarote), will be invited to the next meetings and that the issue should be resolved in the first two or three weeks of September.
