The Partido Popular in Manilva has taken on Antonio Benítez, currently an unaffiliated councillor on Estepona Town Hall and, until a few years ago, one of the most visible faces of Socialism in Estepona. The announcement was made by the party’s leader in the municipality, José Manuel Fernández, through his social media profiles, where he welcomed the councillor to the PP’s Manilva project.
Shortly afterwards, Benítez himself publicly confirmed his move with a message in which he thanked the party for the welcome and referred directly to the municipality: «Sumando por #Manilva, compartiendo proyectos y con la ilusión de seguir trabajando por un municipio con futuro. Seguimos avanzando» (Adding our support for #Manilva, sharing projects and with the enthusiasm to keep working for a municipality with a future. We keep moving forward), he wrote, tagging Fernández, the PP in Manilva and the PP in Málaga in the post.
The move has an obvious local reading: the PP in Manilva is strengthening its structure just over nine months before the 2027 municipal elections, in which the party aims to win back the mayoralty it lost in April 2025.
From LGTBI figurehead of the PSOE-A to the PP’s orbit
Antonio Benítez’s career explains much of the interest in the announcement. Elected as a councillor on the PSOE list in Estepona in the May 2023 elections, barely a month after taking office he asked to move to the group of unaffiliated councillors. The local PSOE responded by demanding that he hand back his seat, arguing that leaving party discipline should also mean giving up the seat.
Benítez had been social media coordinator for LGTBI policies at the PSOE of Andalucía and an active figure in defending the rights of the community on the Costa del Sol, promoting initiatives such as flying the rainbow flag and Estepona’s joining the Red de Municipios Orgullosos (Network of Proud Municipalities). His break with the party, as he has explained on several occasions, was due to disagreements with the spokesperson for the Socialist council group, Emma Molina, and to his disagreement with the direction of the PSOE at national level.
His departure led to a dispute that reached the courts. In March 2025, Benítez filed a complaint with the Policía Nacional over an alleged hate crime, after stating that he had been receiving homophobic insults and threats from a Socialist supporter. As he told OKDIARIO Andalucía in an interview at the time, the remarks reported included disparaging comments about his sexual orientation and physical threats. «Yo puedo aguantar insultos, pero ya han cruzado una línea roja» (I can put up with insults, but they have now crossed a red line), said the councillor, who regretted the silence of the parties and groups that, in his view, should have supported him. The case was taken on by the lawyer Miguel Perea and the person reported has not been convicted, so the presumption of innocence applies.
His move towards the centre-right has not been sudden. Last May, Benítez publicly endorsed the PP’s project in Andalucía, highlighting «la estabilidad institucional, la apuesta por la gestión y el compromiso con los municipios» (institutional stability, a commitment to management and dedication to municipalities) and saying that Juanma Moreno’s project better represented the line of work he considered necessary for the region. He stressed then that he remained independent and that his priority was still Estepona.
A boost with 2027 in sight
The addition comes at a delicate time for the PP in Manilva. José Manuel Fernández, who in March 2025 was unanimously proclaimed local PP president and backed by the provincial leadership as the party’s «líder indiscutible» (undisputed leader) in the municipality, lost the mayoralty barely a month later, on 29 April 2025, when a motion of no confidence succeeded that put Mario Jiménez (Compromiso Manilva) in office with the support of nine councillors. Since then, the PP has been in opposition on the Town Hall.
In this context, the signing of someone with institutional experience, a background in political communication and a recognisable track record in the area reinforces the message of «suma» (adding support) that the PP has been developing ahead of the next electoral cycle. For the moment, neither Fernández nor Benítez has specified what role the councillor will play within the party structure in Manilva, or whether his arrival will be reflected in the 2027 lists.
What is clear is the political message: the PP in Manilva wants to present itself as a welcoming home for those who have broken with Socialism in the area, and Antonio Benítez becomes the first prominent name in that strategy.
Manilva’s political laboratory, where we thought we had already seen everything, will never cease to surprise us.
