The Extraordinary Assembly of the Local Committee of the Canarian Coalition in Teguise elected Olivia Duque this Thursday, December 1, by majority as a candidate for Mayor of said City Council in the elections of May 2023.
Duque, after thanking the committee to which she belongs for their trust, stated that "I am a woman of challenges, of objectives, of team building and of listening in order to execute, and today I face the highest challenge that my political life has given me, with great enthusiasm to become the first mayoress of Teguise."
She also thanked her family and her predecessor, Oswaldo Betancort, for their support, highlighting his vision of the Teguise of the future, his concern for his colleagues and his confidence that "with work everything comes."
Thus, she reaffirmed her commitment to continue working as she has been doing since 2011, both in her time as Councilor for Culture, in which Teguise became a benchmark with the launch of La Casa-Museo del Timple, the Museum of Piracy, or the White Night, as in her last stage in charge of areas such as Urban Planning, Technical Office, Classified Activities and Commerce, among others.
"I always say that the people of the Canarian Coalition come to work and do politics, not politicking," she added, and acknowledged that there is still much to be done in Teguise.
"We have overcome a legislature in which the investment of the Government of the Canary Islands in Teguise has been zero. Our merchants have suffered the impudence of unilaterally removing an event as important as Saborea Lanzarote and they have taken away important and necessary investments such as the construction of the new and demanded school of Costa Teguise," Duque stressed, who also emphasized the Government's contempt for the island of La Graciosa or the endless wait of the residents who await the arrival of a PRUG that never becomes a reality.
The event, held at the Tahíche Sociocultural Center, was attended by the island secretary of CC in Lanzarote, Migdalia Machín, in addition to the rest of the local secretaries of the different committees, the deputy secretary of Organization of Teguise Antonio Callero, the candidates for the mayorships of Arrecife, Haría and Yaiza, Echedey Eugenio, Víctor Robayna and Emilio Machín, respectively, the parliamentarian and general secretary of the JNC, Jesús Machín, the deputy spokesperson of the Nationalist Group in the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, the mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort and other public and organic positions of the nationalist formation on the island.
Migdalia Machín applauded Olivia Duque's decision to take a step forward, and encouraged more women in the party to do so. "There are many women in this party who, for various reasons, have not yet found the moment to take that step forward to be on the front line and be, as you are going to be, the head of the list. Maybe now they will be encouraged and by 2027 the number of female faces on the electoral posters of CC Lanzarote will increase," said the island leader, stressing that it is not easy to take on the challenge and take over from someone who has been in charge of the Mayor's Office of Teguise with an absolute majority for 12 years, as is the colleague Oswaldo."
Machín closed the first stage of the candidacy election process and recalled that the strength of the Canarian Coalition is dialogue, conversation and debate. "Here the command and control to which other political formations are accustomed does not work. We, I insist, are a party of consensus and internal debates make us stronger and more united to face May 2023 aware that we have before us the opportunity to demonstrate that the Canarian Coalition does not leave things half done."
For his part, the mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, was proud to "pass the baton to the woman who will be the first woman in history to preside over the City Council of Teguise, and who already knows perfectly well how to deal with the difficulties and intricacies of the administration, with the maximum capacity for work and sacrifice that can be demanded of a public representative, in this case, our colleague Olivia, who I am sure will know how to give continuity to a way of doing politics that has always defined the Government group of Teguise, with the closeness and responsibility of leading a team and attending to the demands of the residents of each of the towns that make up this extensive municipality, from which I do not want to say goodbye, since I will take it with me wherever I am."
Teguise thus becomes the last committee to start its electoral race. The Canarian Coalition continues with the process of electing candidates to the different administrations in their different organic areas, in view of the elections of May 2023.
