Francis of the Tower retrieve the absolute majority in the capital of Malaga for him PP after two terms –eight years– depending on Ciudadanos to govern. The popular formation will have 17 councilors, one more than is necessary to avoid having to depend on anyone else. What seems to be the councilor’s last term will be quiet, at least as far as negotiations with other parties are concerned.
Not even having turned 80, having all the parties against it during the debates, an opposition that has delved into all the weak points possible, the price of housing rising like foam or the neighborhood movement to ask for more green areas or bike lanes have made the councilman kneel the sixth time he appears.
The ballot boxes reinforce the management of the councilor for the last 23 years and give him back the confidence to carry the baton, with which he will turn 84 if the term ends. The PSOE loses two councilors in a fateful night not only in the capital, but in all the great squares of the province.
In addition, the right increases its presence in La Casona del Parque, when Vox enters with the two councilors that Ciudadanos loses. The green party, which fell short of 500 votes from getting representation four years ago, has had sufficient support from the people of Malaga at the polls on this occasion and includes part of the orange electorate, which does not reach 2% of the ballots.
Dani Pérez, candidate of the PSOE deflates on a night that the left loses the three mayors that the PP has won. He can’t even match his result after four years working, knowing and kicking Málaga, despite the fact that until the last minute he defended having better feelings than on the previous occasion. Due to lack of support, you will not have been, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has even come to the city on two occasions, who also supported his plan to build 10,000 officially protected homes for less than 150,000 euros. Countless have been the visits of ministers to the city, in addition to having Nadia Calviño, second vice president of the Government for the closing of his campaign.
It is not the only formation of the left that loses, although it adds more parties, with Málaga it loses votes and a councilor. The confluence led by Izquierda Unida and Podemos reached an agreement at the last minute to present themselves jointly, but it has not been enough to even defend the results.
With a turnout very similar to that of 2019 – only 5,000 votes have been lost in the capital – 55% of Malaga residents have voted. The leftist forces hoped to reach 60% of the vote, mobilizing young people above all, but they have not been able to get them out of the house to go to the polling stations.
De la Torre thus continues undefeated in what, it seems, will be his last municipal elections. The candidate has already said on several occasions that the most logical thing is for him not to be able to run again, “because I know myself and I never limit the time I dedicate to the task [de gestionar la ciudad]”, he assured in an interview with this newspaper in the campaign. In the PSOE, the main opposition party, he has already knocked down four different candidates: Francisco Oliva, Marisa Bustinduy, María Gámez, and Dani Pérez twice, once in 2019 and on this occasion.
city model
The more than 117,000 votes that the PP has gathered endorse the city model proposed by Francisco de la Torre, even more so after the entire opposition has raised these elections as a plebiscite: port tower, towers in Repsol, construction in the tablet from the old Astoria-Victoria or Plan Litoral cinemas. Carte blanche from the mayor to carry out all of them, or all for which he obtains financing.
The first project to which it will be able to give way is that of the port tower, for which less than a month ago it obtained a positive environmental evaluation by the Cultural delegation of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga. With this, after the Plenary is constituted on June 17, the same month of July will be able to approve the modification of the Special Plan of the Port, which allows building up to 150 meters on the eastern dock. Only the Council of Ministers will then be able to paralyze the project, although at the end of the year a change in the central government that is now in the hands of the left could open all the doors to the Qatari shareholders that promote the project.
But, it is not only the port tower that is waiting behind the gate. June 21 is possibly the most important day of the mandate: it is decided which of the five candidate cities will end up hosting the 2027 International Exposition. Malaga risks everything against cities from Thailand, Serbia, the United States and Argentina; in a decision that would bring to Málaga investments estimated at 1,400 million euros that would boost the city.
It is not ruled out that, by getting the organization of the Expo, the mayor wants to be present at the international event, the first thing he would achieve after years of trying to place the city on the map as a cultural capital or to host the Copa América. For this, there are four years left in which Francisco de la Torre will govern the capital of Malaga with an absolute majority.
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