The candidate for Mayor of Por Mi Pueblo and former mayor of Mijas for Citizens (Cs), Juan Carlos Maldonado, has become the government key after the results of the municipal elections, which have given victory to the PSOE without reaching an absolute majority of 13 councilors with ten.
Thus, the election night of last Sunday marked a political map composed of 4 formationsobtaining the PSOE 10 councilors, the PP a total of 9, Cs with 2 and losing 4 compared to the last elections of 2019, and two parties that break into the Corporation such as Vox with 3 councilors and Por Mi pueblo with 1 councilor.
Political formations have a period of 20 days to compose the puzzle of Mijassince June 17 is the date set by law for the constitution of town halls throughout Spain, so the negotiations will mark the composition of the town’s political board, which by inertia is broken up into two large blocks.
The candidate for mayor of the PSOE and mayor between 2019 and 2023, Josele González, has explained that there are “two very clear paths” regarding the possible pacts to reach the absolute majority of 13 councilors in the municipal Corporation: “One of progress, which is what we have had in these 4 years due to a pact that has worked very well for PSOE and Cs, and that in this case Por Mi Pueblo could be added; and the setback that the Popular Party (PP) and Vox represent.
González has been “very happy and satisfied” for having won the municipal elections after 16 years, going from having a representation of 8 to 10 councilors, which in his opinion is a reflection of “the good work that has been done in these 4 years from the government team”, in which he has had his first experience as mayor. To this he has added “contain the advance of the PP in Mijas” in comparison with the absolute majorities that the popular have obtained in the main squares of the Costa del Sol and the province.
The victory appears bittersweet despite this, and the Socialists find themselves in the situation of having to reach pacts, as González has recounted, who has pointed out that “in the next 20 days it remains up in the air who will govern the municipality, it is open”, so “remains in the hands of Por Mi Pueblowhich will have to decide which block is the one that governs the municipality for the next four years, if PP and Vox or the block of PSOE and Cs ”.
In this way, it has resulted in “the paths are very clear”, remarking that “Por Mi Pueblo and Maldonado have a magnificent opportunity to vindicate themselves in front of the citizens of Mijas”, with a pact that, as he has assessed, “is the one that the majority of the municipality wants, it is the one that the majority of the voters and it would also be the fairest, because who has won these elections is the PSOE”.
In his opinion, supporting that government made up of PSOE, Cs and Por Mi Pueblo would help to consolidate “the transformation that the city needs to continue advancing” in the next 4 years, alluding to the fact that “we are now in a position to conclude all those projects that we have underway, especially since the pandemic has subtracted 2 years of management.”
At this point, González has made reference to “having achieved important milestones such as reducing the unemployment rate to data from 16 years ago or having consolidated the city as a place of entrepreneurship, being the municipality of Andalusia with the most self-employed and generating those opportunities and that well-being that we have achieved in these 4 years”. In addition, he has highlighted “zero debt, being a city that has the lowest tax rate for its neighbors in all of Andalusia, where fewer taxes are collected and we have achieved that thanks to responsible management.”
On the other hand, he pointed out that favoring a government made up of PP, Vox and Por Mi Pueblo It would mean “a setback, it would be to have a mayor again who was already there between 2011 and 2015, and repeat that situation”, as well as he has pointed out what it would mean for the far-right party to form part of the local Executive, assessing that “it does not know the municipality and does not know how to manage within a government team”.
Is left over the negotiation schedule is opensince, as indicated, “they have not yet started”, except for the “congratulations” on election night, so the parties have a margin of “20 days” to reach agreements that lead to the governance of the municipality.
Salado considers a “handicap” that Maldonado does not have a good relationship with the PP
For his part, the president of the Malaga Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, has declared that it is “a handicap” a priori for the PP that the only elected councilor of Por Mi Pueblo and former mayor with Ciudadanos, Juan Carlos Maldonado, does not have a good relationship with the popular ones and that Ciudadanos has been a government partner of the PSOE, but he warns that “in politics anything can happen, we must put projects on the table and the possibilities of common ground”, according to EFE.
In this sense, he has defended the right of the PP to “attempt a government for there to be a change”; he admits that Maldonado’s vote is key to the configuration of the Corporation resulting from the polls and advocates “sitting down and starting a new stage” after recalling that “the PSOE has not behaved very well with Maldonado either “.
“All swords are high and you have to start from scratch“, indicates the one who is also mayor of Rincón de la Victoria, where he has achieved an absolute majority by increasing from 8 to 13 councilors. The PP has recovered the absolute majority in the Provincial Council that it lost in 2015 and made it govern in a minority with occasional support of two Citizens deputies.
Maldonado has governed with the main parties
It should be remembered that Juan Carlos Maldonado He is a politician who has agreed, has governed and has broken with the main political forces in Mijas today, forming part of the PSOE for several years. Later he joined the ranks of Cs, being mayor of Mijas between 2015 and 2019 thanks to an agreement reached with the PP, which he broke in April 2016, but kept the baton of command after an agreement with the PSOE, and which was finally terminated the socialists after 2.5 years of co-government.
In the legislature between 2019 and 2023, Maldonado gave the jump to the Diputación de Málaga as first vice president and head of the Sabor a Málaga brand until he was removed from this position in November 2021, which led to his departure from Cs considering that there was a “dark pact” between the orange brand and the popular ones in Malaga to damage its image. Since then, he has continued as a non-attached councilor in the Mijas City Council, as well as a member of the Corporation of the provincial entity in the category of non-attached after processing the orange formation to remove him in December 2021.