A POLITICAL TURNCOAT

The major political parties in Spain have signed a pact that does not allow a politician, mayor or councillors to change parties and in so doing achieve or sustain power.

The problem is more acute in Spain than in Britain because the electoral system is based on proportional representation. Hence town halls especially often depend on coalitions and the political turncoat or turncoats can cause major shifts in who rules a municipality.

To oversee the pact is a panel of electoral law experts who form a commission and its decisions have to be verified by the Mesa Nacional Antitransfuguismo.

Recently the commission was unanimous in its decision that the mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, and his eight fellow Partido Andalucista councillors were political turncoats. Its decision was endorsed by the Mesa in Madrid last week and now Marín and his cohorts have said they will appeal to the Tribunal Constitucional to uphold “their” rights.

Hmm.

Well here are the facts. The Partido Andalucista has a special link with Ronda as the foundations of the Andalucismo movement were laid there in 1918 when Blas Infante – the father of the modern Andalucía – was part of a congress that established the region’s flag and anthem. Today the PA is the party of Andalucía but at the last regional government elections did not return a single MP – so you have to question the basis of an Andalucía party that is totally rejected by the people of Andalucía.

None the less Marín and the PA had ruled Ronda in coalition with the centre right Partido Popular during the last council. He and his fellow eight PA councillors were the largest group at the last local elections and renewed its pact with the PP. Then he caused a major surprise by breaking the accord and entering in to government with the support of the socialist PSOE instead.

It was at that point that Marín voiced his intention to quit the PA and join PSOE. In June he and his fellow councillors made that move and now sit as non-aligned although they are members of PSOE and in coalition with that party – so in effect PSOE now governs Ronda.

There is some overlap between PSOE and the PA as both parties are centre left – indeed the PA was once the Andalucía socialist party. However previous to the last local elections Marín had suggested that he might join the centre right Partido Popular but it seemed that party wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

Which of course leaves the people of Ronda who voted Partido Andalucista in as the major party at two consecutive elections totally unrepresented at the town hall. Not only are there now no PA councillors but having governed Ronda the party is out in the cold and PSOE rules totally – without winning a majority at the polls.

So are Marín and his fellow councillors political turncoats? You decide.

BIZARRE DEATH IN THE TAJO GORGE

The official statement is hard to believe but the National Police in Ronda have arrested a 63-year-old woman and her 36-year-old son after his girlfriend fell to her death in Ronda’s Tajo gorge and they did nothing to help her.

The tragedy occurred in the middle of last October but now the police have charged the pair with not helping the woman or seeking help from the emergency services.

The woman fell to her death from the balcony of a property in which she had lived with her boyfriend for several months overlooking the Tajo gorge. According to her partner at around 2.30 in the morning they had a row and she disappeared from the apartment. He heard a bang from the balcony door and went out to find her bag, her shoes and mobile phone but no sign of her.

It is at this point that the story changes from a tragedy to the bizarre. The boyfriend immediately phoned his mother to tell her that he thought his girl friend had fallen in to the gorge. She told him to be calm, to go to bed and sleep. Both seem totally unconcerned about what had happened to the girlfriend. In the morning his mother arrived, cleaned his house, looked down from the windows over the Tajo and almost certainly saw the body of the girlfriend.

They then went shopping and it was only afterwards that they called at the police station to report what had happened. The emergency services then raced to the scene and although they found the girl she had died around eight hours before help was summoned.

Now you or I might shake our heads in astonishment at this tale. But I will tell you for nothing that there isn’t a young Spanish wife or girlfriend with a partner who is a doted-on son who won’t nod their heads in sad understanding.

THE KING AND I

On Thursday the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, made his third visit to Ronda to present the awards, scholarships and medals at the Real Maestranza de Caballería.

It was his only visit to Málaga province this year and the first time the King had presented the awards that marked the end of the Real Maestranza course year. The Real Maestranza was created in 1572 and was accredited with the name royal in 1764 by King Carlos III when his son the Infante Don Gabriel de Borbón was named the ‘Hermano Mayor’, the position held by the current monarch.

Now I have spent several hours in the royal presence I do feel a sense of elevation and this blog is written more in the spirit of Borbón than bourbon. I also think a tad of deference by you good reader would be appropriate. Perhaps gentlemen wearing hats would take them off when logging on to my page, a small bow towards the screen would not go amiss either or a gentle curtsy from the ladies. I know that some of you are already in the habit of doing this and rest assured it has been noted.

I shall not be altering my habits, I shall remain as humble and approachable as before – but – oh yes there is always a but - in future I will only eat morcilla that comes from pigs with blue or purple blood.

WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND

I am a firm believer in the saying “What goes around, comes around” especially in the world of politics.

I have dwelt here in past weeks on the fact that for politicians the only thing that matters is achieving power and then holding on to it. They might justify their deeds by saying they are selling out on their supposedly deeply held principles in our interest but we are not as stupid as they are and know better.

Last week I came across the news item that PSOE in Ronda had elected Isabel Aguilera as its spokesperson. The socialists are in coalition with the Partido Andalucista of Mayor Antonio Marín and she is the councillor in charge of the municipality’s finances.

Now Marín presides over a PA that is split down the middle. Until earlier this year he was in coalition with the Partido Popular and the socialists were bitter opponents and critics. Marín then took everybody by surprise, including members of his own party and especially the PP, by throwing them out of his administration.

The PP then went through every conceivable manoeuvre to woo back Marín and would have done anything to restore the pact. Marín refused and then entered a coalition with his previous detested foes, the socialists of PSOE.

So Marín now has a divided PA on his hands and bitter opponents in the PP.

Marín came to power in 2004 when he led his party in to coalition with the PP and the former GIL councillors. They brought a no confidence motion against the then ruling socialists and threw out the mayor who had only been in the job a number of months.

Isabel Aguilera came to the post of socialist spokesperson after Ana Fuentes, a national MP, resigned from the council because of the demands of her Madrid-based job. Aguilera is not new to such high profile posts. Indeed she is a former mayor of Ronda – the one that Marín was instrumental in kicking out in 2004!

So let’s review this again. Marín leads a divided PA, has made firm enemies of the Partido Popular and his coalition partners, who just months ago were his bitter opponents, are now led by Isabel Aguilera who he ejected from power four years ago.

If there are any long knives in the town hall I hope that Marín keeps them firmly under lock and he has the key.