Sunday, November 02, 2008

Much tension

Understandably there is a lot of tension in Bigastro following the arrests and the subsequent jail sentence for the mayor. José Joaquín Moya  served as mayor  for 25 years and has a strong following of devoted supporters. He has been described as the "Caliph  of the Vega Baja". Following the incidents of the last week, the party faithful's feelings range from sorrow to anger - even rage.

Moya sent a message to Inmaculada Martínez, who will now take over as mayor, telling her that she and the other PSOE councillors must continue with the work of governing the town and follow the plans that had been set out for this term of office. Because voting here is by proportional representation there is no need for a by-election. Second in line steps in as mayor and one of the reserves on the PSOE list will step in as councillor.

Meanwhile, José Antonio Ricard, the spokesperson for PP says that members of his party have received indirect threats. Rather than risk confrontation, they are going to remain low key until the situation calms down. If the threats become real then they will have to review their position. 

No comments: