Six of the seven town councils on the Island have already spoken out against the controversial proposal by the Popular Party (PP) and Socialist Party (PSC) to reform the electoral law, which would break the territorial balance of the Canary Islands by creating a regional list of 15 deputies, of which the majority would correspond to the two capital islands, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
In the early afternoon of yesterday, the plenary sessions of the corporations of San Bartolomé and Yaiza met in extraordinary session to unanimously support, with the exception of the abstention of the councilor of Alternativa Ciudadana 25 de Mayo of San Bartolomé, the institutional declaration that the Island Council and the municipalities of Tías, Arrecife, Tinajo and Haría already signed on Monday.
At the beginning of the debate in the municipality of San Bartolomé, the councilor of AC - 25M, José Antonio González, stated that the reference to the constitutional framework was eliminated from the text approved on Monday in the First Corporation, assuming in advance that any autonomous statute is automatically subject to the Magna Carta.
In addition, Alternativa wanted to draw the attention of those present to the fact that the reform of the Statute does not only involve the modification of the electoral system, but brings together a whole series of issues that greatly affect the well-being and future of all Canarians. Issues such as the delimitation of waters, both internal and external, autonomous financing, the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), the tax regime, as well as other no less important issues, must also be debated and addressed by all the institutions of the Islands.
Although according to González, in the Town Hall of San Bartolomé there has been "neither debate, nor calm nor consensus" when talking about the Statute and the issues related to it.
Unanimous support
On behalf of the Government group, the councilor of Coalición Canaria, Juan Antonio de la Hoz, took the floor, who asked all the political forces of the Corporation to unanimously support the institutional declaration.
Likewise, De la Hoz pointed out that the line that should be promoted from the Statute Committee is "the strengthening of the island councils", so in addition "the proposal of the regional list is not understood".
At the end of the session, the mayor of the municipality, Miguel Martín, declared to the media that all the groups of the Town Hall, except Alternativa Ciudadana, have agreed to "reject that terrible pact between two parties that wanted to commit an aberration with the smaller islands".
Yaiza Plenary
The municipality of Yaiza also met yesterday in plenary to support the institutional declaration. LA VOZ contacted the mayor of the municipality, José Francisco Reyes, who expressed his absolute rejection and opposition to the proposal of the two major national parties. "In a regional list, the smaller islands will always be substitutes. Triple parity is the only weapon we have, which is not entirely efficient either, and when we don't have it, no one will remember us anymore."
Likewise, Reyes expressed, as his party colleague in the Nationalist Party of Lanzarote, Pedro de Armas, did yesterday, his distrust towards the statements of the socialist and popular councilors regarding their determination to reject the reform of the electoral system to the last consequences.
In addition, the Town Hall of Yaiza, from its declaration somewhat different from that of the other local corporations, urges "the eight parliamentarians from Lanzarote to sign an institutional manifesto where they refuse to support their respective political parties against the reform of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands in the section on the designation of parliamentarians for each island that breaks the current territorial balance".