Councilor Leticia Padilla will finally be able to continue in the Lanzarote en Pie – Sí Podemos group in the Arrecife City Council, and will not have to move to the group of non-attached members. This is stated in a decree signed this Tuesday by the mayor, Ástrid Pérez, which is based on a new report from the municipal secretary, in which she upholds part of the allegations presented by the councilor against the first opinion.
“No proposal will be submitted to the plenary session for the transfer to the non-attached members, unless the most recent jurisprudence clarifies the interpretation that should be given to article 28 of the Law of Municipalities of the Canary Islands, in relation to the abandonment of the political formation for which she ran in the elections,” the decree states.
In this regard, the secretary insists in her report that Leticia Padilla's departure from Podemos falls within the cases contemplated in the Anti-Defection Pact. However, she adds that this pact is of a “merely political nature” and “lacks any legal effectiveness,” since in order for it to be binding, the legislation should have been adapted, which she emphasizes has not been done in the Canary Islands.
“Although in the opinion of this General Secretary, the abandonment of the political formation for which she ran in the elections is a practice that falls within the definition of defection and that therefore deserves to have as a consequence the transfer to the group of non-attached members, the regional legislator has not introduced this possibility in Law 7/2015 of municipalities of the Canary Islands, and in particular in its article 28, so since the Canarian legislator has not complied with the mandate, and the pact has no legal effectiveness, the transfer to the non-attached members cannot be established as a consequence,” the report states.
Regarding the change of criteria compared to her first opinion, in which she cited different jurisprudence, the secretary emphasizes that it is based on a report from the Canary Islands Advisory Council “of which she has recently become aware and whose legal considerations are impeccable from a legal point of view.”
Another allegation accepted and several rejected
Regarding the rest of the allegations presented by Leticia Padilla, the secretary only upholds “out of prudence” another one of a formal nature. Specifically, the councilor argued that the Secretary of Organization of Podemos in the Canary Islands, César Merino, had not proven to be a legitimate representative to request her transfer to the group of non-attached members.
In this regard, the secretary points out that as a member of the party he is authorized to inform the administration of the departure of one of its members from the party, although she proposes to require Merino to provide a copy of the agreements by which his designation was produced, detailing what his powers are. In any case, this will have no practical effects, as one of the substantive allegations has been upheld.
Regarding the rest, they have all been rejected, including the one that also questioned the “powers” of the municipal secretary to issue legal reports. “This argument is completely inappropriate and shows a special lack of consideration for the figure of the General Secretary of the Corporation as guarantor of legality and official with national qualification, holder of the General Secretariat and fully responsible for the legal composition of the collegiate bodies,” the report responds.
In addition, it also rejects “outright” Leticia Padilla's argument that her councilor's seat depends on a coalition of parties and not on Podemos Canarias, which argued that she was not legitimized to request her departure from the group. “Defection also occurs when the formation that is part of a coalition is abandoned, since the third addendum of the anti-defection pact expressly pronounces on this issue,” the secretary insists, who in this maintains the criterion of her first report.
In addition to César Merino as Secretary of Organization of Podemos Canarias, who sent a letter to the Consistory more than a year ago, later another of the councilors that make it up, Esther Gómez Brodsky, had also formally requested Leticia Padilla's departure from the group.