The provincial coordinator of IU informed the party’s elected councillors in Manilva (Málaga) on Sunday that they have been automatically removed from its register of supporters «after formalising at Saturday’s inaugural council meeting their participation, with their votes in favour alongside the Vox representative, in the investiture of the PP candidate as mayor, thereby contravening the policy on post-election alliances and pacts of our organisation, which was agreed, reiterated and sent to the elected councillors».
The provincial coordinator has also asked Manilva Town Hall to treat Agustín Vargas, Rogelio Pascual, Gema Zotano and Juan Carlos Morejón as non-affiliated councillors, «as they have lost their link with the candidacy under which they obtained their council seats and therefore cannot form a municipal group for the candidacy with which they were elected, ‘Con Andalucía – Izquierda Unida con Manilva'».
In a statement, they also recalled that at the Provincial Coordinating Committee, open to local coordinators who are not members of it, held on 14 June, «the policy on post-election alliances and pacts for the formation of town halls was reiterated, as well as how to act within the framework of the policy approved by IULV-CA».
In practical terms, they explain, «it comes down to this: in cases where the investiture is carried out with a co-governing agreement with the PP, Vox or other parties of a similar ideology, or without an agreement the councillors vote for the mayoral proposal of their candidate, the elected councillors who take part in this way at the council meeting will be removed immediately. The Town Hall will be informed of this so that they cannot form part of the Izquierda Unida municipal group (or form it directly if they are all of them), and by extension of the coalition under which we stood, thus becoming non-affiliated members, and the Municipal Secretary will be reminded of the content of article 73.3 of the Law Regulating the Bases of Local Government».
The provincial coordinator of IU, Guzmán Ahumada, stressed that «in the case of Manilva, we are aware of the complexity of the situation resulting from the municipal elections, with a political force holding a relative majority whose candidate has open court cases for corruption, which led to the possibility of a government of concentration –without Vox– being studied, which has not been possible because of the refusal of the PSOE, which maintains an alliance with the majority force (Compromiso)».
«In these circumstances, as was conveyed both to the local coordinator and to the mayoral candidate in the latest elections, our only option was to abstain and/or vote for ourselves at the investiture council meeting and, therefore, to work from the opposition from the outset. This is an option that is not being considered, at least by our contacts in Manilva, who say that regardless of the consequences, of which they are aware and which have been set out in writing, they will go ahead with an agreement that falls outside any alliance policy acceptable to our organisation», Ahumada recalled.
Finally, he added that «given that in the last 24 hours this has come to pass, and having previously informed the candidate and elected councillors, the provincial coordinator has set in motion the mechanisms laid down in our statutes and removed them automatically from the register of supporters».
