Today we have more than enough fingers on one hand to count the political formations and candidates for the next elections who can really look the neighbor in the eye and do not have to bow their heads. A few days ago, the race towards the next elections to be held on May 28 officially started.
After months of weighing the decision, from Unidos por Yaiza (UPY) we are more than clear that the alternative we offer hand in hand with Nueva Canarias (NC), already known as the 'Third Way', is a historic opportunity to change the course of the people of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
It is true that the social, economic and political situation we are experiencing has also motivated me to lead this candidacy for the Presidency of the Island Council, but without a doubt what has most driven me to take that step has been to see, as a neighbor of this Island, the loss of opportunities we are experiencing in this part of the Archipelago. Now that we are on track, I accept the challenge with enthusiasm, guaranteeing that the duplication of responsibilities will not affect my daily effort for the municipality of Yaiza nor will it hinder my island responsibilities, and aware of the challenges that, either as Government or as opposition, we will have to face over these next four years.
Moreover, our purpose through this 'Third Way' is to extrapolate the management model that we have been developing for years in Yaiza, a proven and evident public management, to the scope of the Island Council. We have a plan for each municipality on this Island. We have a plan for Lanzarote and a plan for La Graciosa. We will restore stability to the institutions, in the face of the minorities and instabilities that parties such as Coalición Canaria (CC) and Partido Socialista (PSOE) have been causing, who in this mandate have once again put their partisan interests before the general interest in Arrecife, Haría, Yaiza and the Island Council itself.
I am also taking the step knowing the support of colleagues who make up an excellent working group within a young, uninhibited Canarian organization, which does not carry a backpack of unsuccessful management or drag past corruption and, above all, with the conviction that we will achieve great achievements through this 'Third Way', which moves away from the tension, the noise, the politicking and the instabilities of the major parties in previous mandates to focus on management, work, security, results, certainty and the word. In a word, my desire is to extrapolate the management carried out in Yaiza for years to the First Island Corporation so that the whole Island can benefit from it.
Well, whether we are Government or part of the opposition in the next mandate that we will premiere this imminent summer, from these lines I already anticipate that, although we will not veto any political option and we will be open to dialogue and agree with everyone, regardless of the role we play in the Cabildo, our commitment to apply the Social Agreement and take care of our citizens, our NGOs and our Third Sector will be, yes or yes, one of our highest priorities and demands with those who want to deal with us.
And together with the impulse that Lanzarote and La Graciosa need in terms of Social Welfare, where NGOs have contributed so much and we still need them to contribute so much, we will not ignore the important needs that unfortunately we still have in fundamental issues such as water and sanitation, the primary sector, the urgency of ordering our territory and, of course, we will solve or at least alleviate with real measures the dramatic shortcomings we suffer in Health, Education and in multiple basic services.
The promised diversification of the island's economy will finally cease to be a simple electoral promise to be forgotten after the elections and will be once and for all a palpable reality, as will job creation. We will definitively open the melon of the serious housing problem in Lanzarote because, beyond issues related to regulations and competences, as rulers we know and have the responsibility to be able to provide solutions.
In the next mandate we will promote a conscious work that provides us with long-term stability on our most powerful economic sector, tourism. And of course, we will not hesitate to definitively develop and put in black and white the strategy of changing the energy model, the one that some have been preaching in Lanzarote for so many years but for which they have done so little until now. In any case, the citizens will know how to value the candidacies most committed to their municipalities and to Lanzarote and La Graciosa; and will surely discard those erected by pure electoralism and personal quotas.
We are a territory full of wealth, opportunities, history, with a cultural background and a solidarity as a people recognized internationally and with people who have always known how to turn their vulnerable points into their greatest strengths. That is precisely the challenge we propose from Nueva Canarias to the Island Council. The fact that our electoral brand is a relatively new seal may be a weakness that, in the same way, we will know how to transform into our main opportunity.
Thus, against those who have not known how to govern our Island after decades in power, against those who have brought us breach of agreements, instabilities and lost opportunities, Nueva Canarias will continue to look them in the eye, dear neighbors, turning apparent weaknesses into new real opportunities for this blessed land.
