Orihuela’s councillor of Tourism and International Residents, Sofía Álvarez, has announced that she no longer wishes to be included on the Partido Popular electoral list for the upcoming municipal elections if Emilio Bascuñana and Damaso Aparicio continue to head the list.
Alvarez, who is also part of the electoral committee at the local and provincial level, has surprised everyone with her decision, which was made public before it was communicated to her colleagues.
The councillor said that she no longer wishes to be part of the current situation that is so badly damaging the PP, with an electoral list that puts at numbers one and two individuals who are politically opposed, current Mayor Emilio Bascuñana and the General Secretary of the Partido Popular, Dámaso Aparicio, men who have regularly shown that they cannot possibly work together and who have been exchanging blows with each other, very much to the detriment of the local Party, for much of the current legislative term.
“The struggle for power, of two people who are putting their own egos before the interests of the people, is hurting our party and the municipality of Orihuela, and I feel shame for the conflict within the Oriolan Partido Popular. I do not understand how they can be more concerned about their own self-esteem than the welfare of the people they are supposed to serve.”
The councillor said that the situation within the party has often prevented her from carrying out her work and she does not want to be part of the same situation for another four years during which time the warring twosome could trigger irreparable damage to the party.
“I have never before had to fight with the people with whom I work. I try to be positive and to do the job to the best of my ability but I am always looking over my shoulder, “she added.
Álvarez has also ruled out the possibility that she will move to another party and has made it clear that she will continue as a member of the PP “and I will work for the party and for the people of the municipality in which I live.”
Although the positioning of the pair at the head of the list was recently confirmed by Teodoro Garcia Egea, number two of the national PP, the matter is still causing problems in the local party. We now have a very real possibility that the National Executive in Madrid could become involved in the case.
In carrying out her role over the last 4 years, as councillor for tourism, Álvarez has made a number of friends who are extremely influential in the Partido Popular,including Provincial President José Císcar and the President of the Diputación, César Sánchez, friends who are now taking an increasing interest in the disarray and the in-fighting that seems to be an all too regular occurrence in the Orihuela organisation.
With Bascuñana still the subject of a fraud investigation by the Ministry of Health and with less than 2 months to the municipal elections it is thought that there could still be some way to go before this situation is finally played out.
