We have not succeeded. New elections are called, barely four months after the previous elections, in an unprecedented scenario in democratic Spain. We have not succeeded because, despite the efforts made by some political forces such as the Canarian Coalition, from the beginning there were two formations --Podemos and the Popular Party-- that instead of focusing their efforts on negotiating, on reaching an agreement, complying with the citizen mandate, they dedicated themselves to placing, at one extreme and the other, all possible obstacles so that there would be no other way out.
And that's where we are. Preparing to explain to the citizens that, while others were interpreting a vaudeville, at times almost a soap opera, before the cameras - always before the cameras - this deputy presented, on behalf of CC-PNC, more than 30 initiatives, in addition to the interventions in commissions and Plenary sessions that have not been broadcast, but in whose minutes there is evidence of our permanent activity.
In these months, the big parties have been getting entangled, in the programs with the highest audience, in eternal ballroom dances with changing partners. And meanwhile, in the real world, in the different rooms of Congress, our proposals were approved unanimously (and, in some cases, with the refusal of the PP). Proposals as beneficial for the Canary Islands as the application of the flat rate for flights between islands, the improvement of the bluefin tuna quota, the promotion of our industrial sector, the reactivation of the Comprehensive Employment Plan of the Canary Islands or the Employment Plan for Educational Infrastructure, among many others.
Now, due to this absolute lack of generosity, due to these insurmountable and unacceptable red lines, we are forced to go to new elections in which, once again, small parties have to multiply efforts to reach the citizens.
It is true that we do so with the peace of mind of the work done, that we have fulfilled what the citizens voted us for; that we have defended the urgent issues for the Canary Islands, achieving an unthinkable consensus in recent years, with resolutions that must necessarily be assumed by the Government that is formed after the new electoral appointment.
However, this that should produce satisfaction, contains the bitter aftertaste of being forced to hold elections after which, everything will change so that everything remains the same, as it was said in 'The Leopard', because it seems that we have not assumed that, as it happens in other solid democracies, more plurality should not mean impossibility of governing.
Even the New York Times has published a harsh and embarrassing editorial in which it calls this brief legislature of ours a "circus" and speaks of the "personal ambitions" of the leaders as the main cause of the lack of understanding. I add another one: the point of no return that is reached when political rivalry is tinged with contempt, if not hatred, for the adversary.
That is why a clean and measured campaign is necessary, where the political rival is never treated as an enemy; where stories are not invented to try to annul the opponent; where spurious anecdotes are not told nor rude qualifiers are applied. A campaign where what is said can continue to be maintained in one or many negotiation tables after the elections of June 26. Because we will have to sit at them and look each other in the face. And talk. And yield. And agree. Above all, agree.
The Canary Islands and this country cannot continue waiting. Citizens deserve to have the Government they choose with their vote.
And they also deserve respect for their decisions and for those in whom they have placed their trust, whether they are of the political color they may be.
Ana María Oramas González-Moro, Deputy of the Canarian Coalition in Congress
