The political formations of Nueva Canarias and Centro Canario Nacionalista signed this Tuesday a programmatic agreement to run together in the next general elections to be held in March, although the pact is born "with a vocation for continuity" and with the objective of regrouping the "dispersed" Canarian nationalism and converging into a center-left political force.
This was indicated by the presidents of both political formations, Román Rodríguez (NC) and Ignacio González (CCN), in a press conference after the signing of the agreement, to which they announced that the island-based formations Partido Nacionalista de Lanzarote (PNL), Iniciativa por La Palma (INPA) and Nueva Fuerteventura will join next week.
In addition, negotiations are underway with the formations of Independientes de Fuerteventura and Independientes de Lanzarote.
After this agreement, a bipartisan commission will decide the candidates that the coalition will present to both the Congress and the Senate, although Rodríguez announced that NC has proposed Marino Alduán as candidates to the Lower House for the province of Las Palmas, and José Mendoza for one of the two seats for Gran Canaria to the Senate. For the province of Tenerife, no candidate proposals have yet been presented, which in any case will have to be ratified by the body that is constituted for this purpose.
Ignacio González highlighted that this agreement formalizes the electoral coalition for the next general elections, based on the prior discussion of a common program and the presentation of joint lists in both provinces, which will run under the name of NC-CCN in Las Palmas and CCN-NC in Tenerife.
González indicated that the agreement is born "with a vocation for continuity" to constitute a "modern, non-navel-gazing" nationalism that aspires to govern in the Canary Islands in 2011. He also highlighted the fluidity and ease in reaching an agreement with NC, while regretting the "obsession and lack of desire" of Coalición Canaria (CC) to join the agreement, despite the fact that this formation "speaks of unifying nationalism from the outside".
Román Rodríguez also highlighted the "unequivocal will" of both political formations to constitute an alternative nationalism in the Canary Islands, to which other organizations will join, and hoped that in this project in the next elections "it will open a gap in the representation of alternative nationalism in the Cortes Generales".
Regarding the prospects of obtaining representation, Rodríguez highlighted that the strong bipartisanship experienced during the legislature will mark the elections, which will be very polarized between PSOE and PP, and highlighted that the two Canarian constituencies are among the 12 that can modify the national political landscape.
In this context, according to his assessments, in the province of Las Palmas the PSOE would obtain 4 of the 8 deputies of that constituency, the PP three and NC-CCN could aspire to the eighth to the detriment of CC.
In the province of Tenerife, the PSOE would obtain 3 of the 7 deputies, the PP two and CC another two, which would lose one in favor of the PP. In the case of the Senate, Rodríguez pointed out that the new coalition could have options to obtain representation in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, with the incorporation of these island formations, while in the rest of the Islands he considered that the senators will be divided between PSOE and PP.
Both leaders insisted that if the two political formations had reached an agreement for the past regional elections, even with the current electoral system, the sum of the votes obtained would have given them a representation that would make the current political landscape different "and those who are governing would be in the opposition", Rodríguez indicated.
PROGRAMMATIC ADVANCE
The coalition is also working on the elaboration of a joint program with which it will run in the general elections, which will contain proposals in the social sphere "but not navel-gazing", but aimed at defending not only the interests of the Canarians. Among them, they propose the equalization of pensions to the minimum interprofessional salary.
They also defend an increase in development cooperation in the nearby African area, in which the Canary Islands become the logistics and service platform that articulates these funds towards the neighboring continent. Likewise, they are committed to signing an agreement with the State to carry out a Comprehensive Plan against Poverty and Marginalization in the Canary Islands, as well as a strengthening of Employment and Housing plans.
In economic matters, they point to a simplification of the financing system for municipalities and councils, a commitment to Innovation, Development and Research (R&D&I), to which the Canary Islands currently only allocates 0.61 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, and for which they defend that the funds of the Investment Reserve for the Canary Islands (RIC) be allocated.
Strengthen the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) and give a twist to the Canary Islands strategy in Europe, with a consolidation of the legislation relating to the taxation of the Archipelago, to prevent the negotiation from being at the expense of the political situation.
NEW STATUTE AND REFORM OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM
The progress of the program of this new nationalist coalition also defends a new Statute of Autonomy for the Canary Islands, which provides the Archipelago with the highest levels of self-government and gives it powers in ports and airports, in residence and work of foreigners in the Canary Islands, the creation of the Canary Islands Tax Agency and a strengthening of the role of the councils "with a federal structure" within the Archipelago.
Likewise, they defend that this statutory reform incorporates a modification of the electoral system, with a reduction to 5 and 3 percent of the current electoral limits (located at 30 percent of the regional votes and 6 percent of the island votes).
In addition, they argue that the circumstances exist to advance in a constitutional reform that leads Spain to a federal state, which would allow the Canary Islands, which would have the conditions of a federated state, to achieve its historical claim over the archipelagic waters.
ACN Press
