SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 19 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Ciudadanos (CS) candidate for the Presidency of the Canary Islands, Isabel Bello, has proposed this Wednesday to reduce Parliament to 35 deputies, elected through a single regional list, and eliminate the island constituencies.
“Citizens ask for something revolutionary and simple: one person, one vote. It is unheard of that the vote of one person from El Hierro is worth that of 17 Tenerife residents, you cannot govern the Canary Islands with 5,000 votes. The current law is discriminatory, Tenerife residents and Gran Canarias are citizens of second”, details in a note.
Bello points out that “the recent reform of the electoral system in the Canary Islands has been a failure, since it has not eliminated paradoxes such as that a party, like ASG, which barely received more than 6,000 votes, continues to be the one that determines the government coalitions , or that CC continues to benefit from its greater presence in the smaller islands”.
Ciudadanos considers that the “little weight” of the capital islands within the Parliament of the Canary Islands has its effect on the distribution of the resources of the Government of the Canary Islands by islands.
Thus, the liberals detail that for decades, the larger islands have suffered a comparative grievance compared to other canaries, “an investment imbalance that is never compensated.”
Thus, they indicate that “every year the difference in the investments of the Government of the Canary Islands between the island that receives the most and the one that receives the least is 10 or 12 to 1, and those that receive the least are always Tenerife or Gran Canaria”.
The orange formation explains that this inequality has its origin in an “undemocratic” electoral system that rewards votes more on some islands than on others.
“For those who have governed the Canary Islands, it is more profitable electorally, in terms of deputies in Parliament, a favorable treatment of the smaller islands than the larger ones, and forty years of inequality has led us to the deficient infrastructures that we suffer in the capital islands” , they comment.
Bello considers that “it cannot be that 6,000 votes on an island govern the Canary Islands because they are worth about 100,000 in a capital, it is not about skipping equity, but about being fair, it is about defending equitable treatment for Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and that once and for all the inhabitants of the capital islands stop being second-class citizens in this archipelago”.
In addition, he points out that the reduction proposed by CS to eliminate half of the deputies “will mean savings for taxpayers and, especially, a signal to citizens that politicians too” are capable of “tightening their belts at a time when those that families find it increasingly difficult to fill the shopping basket or make ends meet”.
“We propose to reduce the number of politicians to be able to carry out more social policies and make life more bearable for the Canaries,” says Isabel Bello.
Thus, he defends equality “at all costs, without complexes, decisively and courageously” and for this reason they propose a single regional list to the Parliament of the Canary Islands in which the vote of all people, “live where you live, is worth the same”.
THEY PROPOSE TO ELIMINATE THE REGIONAL 4% CAP
The Liberals state that the creation of a single regional list would allow the current number of parliamentarians to be halved, going from 70 to 35 parliamentarians, and this without harming representativeness, since with barely 2.85% of the votes representation in the regional chamber would be guaranteed, unlike what happens now that 4% of the votes are necessary.
The current minimum of 4% would also be eliminated, establishing a purely proportional distribution of seats and without a minimum of any kind, favoring the representativeness of the regional chamber.
They also highlight that “the possibility of exclusive dedication for all parliamentarians would be ended, restricting it only to the spokesperson of each parliamentary group with representation in the chamber, while the rest of the deputies would only receive per diems for attendance at committees or plenary sessions”.
According to Bello, “it would be another new sign that politicians do not make politics a profession but a dedication to public service.”
