The spokesperson for Compromiso Manilva, Mario Jiménez, has expressed regret that the Partido Popular in Manilva, led by mayor José Manuel Fernández, has allowed the registration of the councillors expelled by the provincial bodies of Izquierda Unida as a Municipal Group in Manilva Town Hall.
Jiménez made the complaint after the Organisation Council Meeting held this past Monday at the Town Hall: “we are once again witnessing a new legal outrage by mayor José Manuel Fernández, solely to please his government partners, allowing this travesty without a formal opinion from the Town Hall’s legal officers and with a tailor-made external report”.
Jiménez pointed out that the PP in Manilva “is breaching the anti-defection pact, overriding the will of the citizens expressed at the ballot box, by signing up representatives of rival parties to keep its post as mayor. Fernández has opened the door in Manilva Town Hall to this form of corruption and anti-democratic practice, which alters the majorities expressed by the public at the ballot box, by allowing four councillors expelled from IU to form a Municipal Group”.
An item on the council meeting agenda that was approved with the votes in favour of the PP and the councillors expelled from IU, and the abstention of the PSOE and VOX.
“Compromiso Manilva voted against this trick that the mayor of Manilva has allowed”.
Mario Jiménez states that Fernández is deviously breaching article 73.3 of the Local Government Framework Law (Ley Reguladora de Bases de Régimen Local) and the rulings handed down by the Supreme Court.
“Rulings that seek to prevent this disloyal conduct by defectors, who use party labels to circumvent the will that citizens expressed with their votes. This article of the Law also orders that defectors be prevented from receiving compensation for their decisive vote in the election of the mayor”, said the spokesperson for Compromiso Manilva.
It should be recalled that the provincial coordinator of Izquierda Unida, Guzmán Ahumada, sent a letter to the Town Hall’s Secretary’s Office, notifying it of the expulsion of its councillors and the ban on them forming an Izquierda Unida municipal group, after they made the Partido Popular candidate mayor.
In this way, the prohibition derived from article 73 of the LRBRL affects posts granted at the mayor’s discretion, such as being appointed deputy mayor and joining the Local Government Board (articles 46.1 and 52.1 of the ROF).
It also affects posts by delegation of the mayor (articles 43 and 120.1 of the ROF), as well as taking on any other discretionary political post, all of which is corroborated by Constitutional Court rulings 9 and 246/2012”; as set out in Supreme Court Ruling 1401/2020, of 26 October, Chamber 3, Section 4.
“The councillors expelled from IU have also received dozens of delegations and will be in charge of important areas of municipal management. Several have been appointed deputy mayors and vice-president of the Urban Planning Authority, all this outrage allowed by mayor José Manuel Fernández, who has deceived voters, where three forces at completely opposite ends of the ideological spectrum have joined together to give the mayoralty to the Partido Popular”.
The anti-defection pact is clear: “defectors are understood to be local, regional and national representatives who, betraying the political subject (political parties, coalitions or voter groupings) that put them forward in the corresponding elections, have left it, have been expelled or depart from the position set by its competent bodies”.
This pact states that “political parties undertake not to accept in their municipal government teams members of the Corporation who have become defectors with respect to the groups they came from, and reject the possibility of the Mayor making any political appointment that involves government powers or a general or special delegation of them, with the consequent political and financial rights, in favour of defectors”.
Finally, Jiménez expects a reaction from the provincial bodies of the Partido Popular and Izquierda Unida in Málaga, and from the regional and national bodies responsible for overseeing compliance with the Law in the resolutions adopted by town halls.
