The Partido Popular has filed a complaint with the Electoral Board against Manilva Town Hall over the payment for buses intended to help families attend a demonstration in support of building a new secondary school in the municipality.
According to what we have been able to establish so far, the PP considers that the Town Hall may have breached the principle of institutional neutrality set out in electoral legislation by covering the cost of transport for a protest rally. This newsroom, in order to confirm the complaint, contacted the Electoral Board in Marbella and the Partido Popular spokesman in Manilva, Jose Manuel Fernandez. At first he said he was unaware of it and expressed support for the urgent need for the new school, but a few minutes later, after consulting the party’s legal services, he confirmed to us the existence of the complaint, which could jeopardise the demonstration by families scheduled for next Wednesday, 22 April.
The Town Hall has preferred not to make any statements for the time being, saying that it will lodge an appeal and that it will abide, as it must, by whatever decisions the court determines.
The protest, however, does not originate from any political party, but from the AMPAS (parent-teacher associations) of Manilva and Casares, which for months have been speaking out about the situation at IES Las Viñas, a school which, according to families, is “completely overcrowded”, with more than 1,300 pupils in a building designed for around 700.
A demand that comes from families
The parent associations have promoted various actions to call on the Junta de Andalucía to build a new secondary school. These included a visit to the Andalusian Parliament planned for 26 March.
That event had to be suspended after the early election was called a few days before the visit and the Andalusian Parliament was subsequently dissolved, which forced the initiative to be cancelled. Despite this, the AMPAS made clear that their campaign was not stopping and announced that they would continue with new actions.
To that end, the families reorganised the protest and called a new demonstration in Málaga for 22 April, with the aim of continuing to draw attention to a situation they consider “unsustainable”.
Transport provided to encourage participation
To make attendance easier, Manilva Town Hall announced that it would provide free buses, a measure which, according to the AMPAS, aims to enable as many families as possible to attend a demonstration focused solely on improving public education.
The organising associations insist that this is a social demand, unconnected to party interests, focused exclusively on guaranteeing decent conditions for pupils.
Complaint in the middle of an election period
The Partido Popular’s complaint comes during the current election period in Andalucía, when the regulations require public administrations to remain neutral.
While this procedure is being resolved, the AMPAS are going ahead with the protest, defending the urgent need for new educational infrastructure in the area and appealing for families to stand together to achieve it, all the more so given a political party’s attempt to curb their freedom to demonstrate.
Briones’ falsehoods exposed
All this comes after the Junta de Andalucía itself contradicted its own provincial delegate in Málaga, Miguel Briones Artacho, who had told the president of the AMPA and the headteacher of IES Las Viñas that repair works on the structures of the current building and the skylights had already been awarded with a budget of 400,000€ and would begin in May. The Director General of the Andalusian Public Education Agency, Manuel Cortes Romero, stated that the amount was only 220,000€ and that the tender process was still under way.
