The city councils of Haría, Tinajo and Tías unanimously rejected yesterday the proposal for electoral reform of the PP and PSC, which contemplates the creation of a regional list of fifteen deputies, which would break the principle of triple parity, as almost all seats would have to be designated for demographic reasons to the capital islands, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Unlike the texts that have been presented in the Cabildo, Yaiza and Arrecife, the motion voted in Haría, where Coalición Canaria governs with an absolute majority and whose mayor is the third vice-president of the regional leadership of the nationalists, included a content somewhat different from the rest of the municipalities, which, although more concise, in certain terms used is more forceful.
Deep Repudiation
The first point of the motion approved unanimously by all the councilors in Haría shows the "deep repudiation of the stingy and petty attitude of the parties that make up this alliance (PP - PSC), vilifying one of the greatest achievements of our recent democratic history, which is the preservation of territorial balance." In addition, the declaration of the northern municipality urges "the Lanzarote parliamentarians to disobey discipline, putting the interests of our island above ideologies and parties".
Likewise, it calls "on citizens, institutions and businessmen to take the initiatives that are considered conducive to the integral defense of territorial balance." In this sense, "the City Council of Haría expresses its absolute willingness to take this fight to the ultimate consequences."
The mayor of the municipality, José Torres Stinga, said yesterday in statements to LA VOZ that the rejection of the Haría Corporation is "frontal and absolute, especially to the creation of the regional list. And once all the institutions and political forces of Lanzarote have spoken out, we hope that all the deputies for the Island will speak out against the reform."
In this regard, Torres Stinga recalled that as of today "only the deputies of the Socialist Party in Parliament have yet to speak out, so we request that their position be clarified as soon as possible."
Local committees against the regional Executive
The Socialist Party of Lanzarote has spoken out decisively against the proposal supported by the regional Executive of the formation. Faced with the joint initiative of the two major national parties, the members of the local committees of almost all the municipalities of Conejero have yesterday conveyed their rejection of the possibility of any change in the electoral law that entails an imbalance in the application of the principle of triple parity.
The socialists of San Bartolomé, Haría and Yaiza transmitted in the morning of yesterday to the editorial staff of this newspaper press releases in which they state "to join the approval of an institutional declaration contrary to the proposal of electoral reform of the Statute of Autonomy that supposes the rupture of the current system of triple parity."
A bad decision
Marcos Hernández, socialist councilor in the City Council of Tinajo and senator for Lanzarote, said yesterday in statements to this newspaper that "triple parity to some extent compensates for the territorial gap that exists between the islands, settling part of the deficit between the larger and smaller islands. Taking a step back in this area would be a bad decision."
Regarding the possibility feared by some that the Conejero socialists will finally vote in favor of the reform in Parliament, Hernández said that "we are going to continue maintaining the same position, as we have already done in other matters, such as oil exploration."
San Bartolomé and Yaiza
Maintaining the unity of all the municipalities and island political forces in the determination to stop any reform that is detrimental to the non-capital islands, today the plenary sessions of San Bartolomé and Yaiza meet to unconditionally support the feeling of all the people of Lanzarote. In fact, the socialists of both municipalities have already spoken out against the reform.
For his part, the mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, transmitted yesterday to LA VOZ the text of the plenary agreement that will almost certainly be approved today by the local Corporation. From the agreement, the same one that was approved in the capital of the Island and in the Island Council, it is clear that "the possible modification of the current Canarian electoral system, breaking the triple parity, would leave the territorial balance in the air, one of the main characteristics of the current autonomous framework and, in turn, would limit the presence in the Canarian Parliamentary Chamber of political forces representative of cultural identities."
"In accordance with the above, the Corporation of Yaiza declares itself in favor of the fact that in the Canary Islands the maximum scope of competence is obtained within the constitutional framework in the Reform of the Statute; it considers it indispensable, fundamental and urgent that the current model of territorial balance be maintained and that the capacity of local corporations be increased and reinforced in this new statutory framework."
Electoral ceilings
Likewise, from the joint document signed by all the city councils "the Parliament of the Canary Islands is urged to reconsider the electoral ceilings that have left out of" the Chamber "political forces that obtain important support from the citizens and voters of their constituency."
