The 2019 electoral results did not leave a good taste in the mouths of what were until then the two majority opposition parties in the Icod de los Vinos City Council, PSOE and Somos Icodenses (SI). The latter emerged in 2011 as a split from the former led by the former general secretary of the local Association, Moncho León Herrera, current SI spokesman.
The truth is that the discrepancies between the socialists also had the opposite effect in the 2019 electoral process: Javier Sierra, who was about to lead the renewal of the party in the City of Drago, left his act as councilor a month before the elections due to internal differences, he went to the Mixed Group and founded a new political project: Alternativa Icodense (AI), which turned out to be the second political force, obtaining five councilors against the three from the PSOE and the only one from SI.
All three start from the same origin and they are clear that the current government (CC-Cs), led by Francis González, is not the one that the citizens of Icod deserve and the best way to deal with it is for the left to converge in 2023 in a single list.
The three leaders, Javier Sierra (AI), Moncho León (SI) and Juan Miguel Martín Zarza (PSOE) acknowledge that both have started conversations in order to achieve this, although they clarify that it is still early to determine how they are going to attend the next elections because this decision depends on an internal process that in some cases has not even begun.
The AI secretary general is clear that his party, which “has always been open to dialogue”, will be “key” in 2023. He assures that the PSOE is not the only political force that has contacted to talk about projects “and therefore “The way forward is being assessed, but in the meantime he continues to lead the opposition work.”
He also rules out returning to the socialist ranks because he believes in the “independent” project of Alternativa Icodense, with an increase in the number of affiliates “and that it is not under the umbrella of any superior political force that sets guidelines that are not in line with of extreme defense of the local ”.
Regarding his preferences, he points out that AI is a progressive party and therefore, in the event of a possible coalition “obviously, it has to be a party that defends ideas similar to yours.”
In any case, Javier Sierra points out that the decision to go on a list with another or other parties will be valued internally “and the pros and cons will be analyzed because in the end what we want is to add and achieve a strong project that is capable of doing in front of the CC government ”which, in his opinion,“ is not meeting the expectations that the people of Icod de los Vinos deserve ”.
In the same vein, Moncho León expresses himself, although in this case, the consultation with the affiliates and supporters of the party will be to decide whether or not to finally run for the 2023 elections “taking into account the possibilities of forming or not a possible government ”and without forgetting the bad results it obtained in 2019.
“If something moves us, it is the fact of being able to specify the large projects that we left in motion when we governed in coalition with the PSOE, PP and Cs and that have not been carried out by the current Government, mainly those related to the San Marcos beach ”Declares León.
It should be remembered that SI and the PSOE already had an attempt at rapprochement in 2019 that finally did not work and does not rule out that this possibility may be repeated in the future.
Neither does the general secretary of the Icodense socialists, Juan Miguel Martín Zarza, who acknowledges that “the internal division within the party” led to the appearance of three different forces in 2019 that originated in the PSOE and this had a great impact on the results. “. For this reason, one of the conclusions reached after analyzing them “is to open the party and try to unify everything that was divided. And in that we are, open to the possibility of a coalition or pact ”, he emphasizes.
Zarza admits that in addition to conversations with SI, the option of a possible pre-electoral agreement with AI was also put on the table, which the affiliates will have to analyze and accept or not.
At the moment, the PSOE is in the process of renewing a new local Executive and “what has to be done is to maintain this possible frank, open negotiation in which everything can be discussed, not only about lists, but also about commitments.” , says his secretary. It is in the hands of the new executive to leave the doors open for a possible negotiation in order to finalize agreements.
The truth is that the three parties have made a move because they know, as the saying goes, that “unity is strength”. And at the current juncture it is the only solution they have if they want to stop another victory for the nationalists in the City of Drago.
