“I would love for this situation to come to an end, in the best possible way and that's it”. With these words, the island secretary of the Canarian Coalition, Migdalia Machín, has referred to the circumstances that the party is experiencing to elect its candidates for the next elections.
“These are complicated times”, Machín has admitted. “But well, now it is our turn because we are in this process. Then it will come to the others too”, she added.
In the case of CC, the main tension is focused on the candidacy for the Cabildo, with three candidates to head that list: Pedro San Ginés, Oswaldo Betancort and Migdalia Machín herself. However, the focus is now on Teguise, where the election has been delayed again, postponing the Cabildo's election as well.
“If I had set the date, I would have discussed everything before September 30. Sometimes they tell me: you have to impose it. But I think a leader is the one who manages situations”, said the island secretary, without hiding her discomfort at the new extension that has been requested from Teguise.
From that Committee they affirm that the reason is to reach a consensus candidacy before reaching that assembly, since there are currently two candidates: Olivia Duque and Toni Callero. However, given the second postponement they have requested, speculation begins about the possibility that there are also other reasons, linked to what happens with the candidacy for the Cabildo. And it is that Oswaldo Betancort has no intention of repeating in Teguise because his aspiration is to present himself to the first Corporation, but if he does not succeed, he could end up outside both lists, if the one in La Villa closes now.
"We approved a process and it must be fulfilled"
Asked about the possibility that the Teguise Committee is trying to wait for the candidacy for the Cabildo to be resolved first, Migdalia Machín has neither confirmed nor denied it, and has limited herself to defending that this was not what was approved in the party's bodies.
“We have an approved process, where the members of the Teguise Committee also approved it, which was that the candidates for the town councils had to be elected first and then the Cabildo and Parliament would come. It was approved in the Insular Political Council, which is our highest decision-making body here on the island”, she stressed.
Regarding whether there would be a possibility of modifying it or if they are considering doing so, she has ruled it out for the moment: “Well, we have approved the process and when we approve things it is to comply with them, not to not do it. The process is as it is established”.
However, the celebration of that assembly still does not have a date. “It is a question that we have to sit down with them and the Committee has to decide it, I cannot decide it. The local secretary decides in his Committee or together with his Committee, or as he sees fit. It is a power that the local secretary has”.
In any case, Migdalia Machín “hopes” that this assembly will be convened soon, to move on to the election of the person who will head the list for the Cabildo, where the biggest pulse is being fought. In fact, some sources pointed out that the visit that Fernando Clavijo made to the island this Monday had the main objective of mediating in that dispute, in particular between San Ginés and Betancort, but Migdalia Machín has assured that it was “coincidence” that it occurred at this time, because they had an “agenda” set “for many days”.
Thus, she insists that the debate on the candidacy for the Cabildo is only waiting for Teguise to be resolved first. “Depending on that, we will see how we resolve it and I hope we overcome it in the best possible way”.