Ever since democracy was established and the 1978 constitution came into effect, the majority of municipal administrations in Puerto de la Cruz have been socialist. Furthermore, the PSOE is the sole political party in the city to have secured absolute majorities. No other party has managed to achieve this feat.
Back in 1979, they won 12 councillors; in 1983, it was 17; in 1987, back to 12; in 1991, they had 13; in 1999, still 12 councillors, and in 2023, they missed out on a councillor (number 11) by only 14 votes, which would have allowed them to govern without the need for alliances.
Nevertheless, censorship seems to be ingrained in the local political scene, always directed against the PSOE, despite the fact that employing this legal tool has not yielded positive electoral outcomes for their political opponents. There are numerous instances of this. In 1995, Marcos Brito became mayor after removing the socialist Salvador García from the position a mere 23 days after taking office. Four years later, the PSOE, with García leading, reclaimed the mayorship with an absolute majority.
In 2007, Dolores Padrón became the first female to head the City Council through an arrangement with the two PP councillors, Eva Navarro and Luis Miguel Rodríguez, but her term was short-lived at just one year and four months due to incompatibilities. The PSOE governed with a minority for a brief period until CC (despite assuring they would respect a PSOE government) opted to form an alliance with the PP and put forward a motion of censure, once again relegating the socialists to the opposition.
In the 2011 elections, the Socialists secured six councillors compared to CC’s eight, forcing another pact with the PP to govern.
The tables turned in 2015 with a tie between PSOE and PP, with the former garnering more votes. Both parties had fielded new young candidates: Marco González and Lope Afonso. It was Afonso who garnered support from the four nationalist councillors who defied their island Executive’s orders to form an alliance with the PSOE.
A decade later, Puerto de la Cruz once again saw a socialist administration with Marco González at the helm and Afonso in opposition. An agreement was reached with the three councillors of the ACP, a leftist party originating from Vecinos por el Puerto, along with the unexpected abstention of CC, who that year recorded their worst electoral results in history with only two councillors, a figure that remains unchanged.
Described as a pact for a progressive council, the PSOE and the ACP emphasised that despite being from different political backgrounds, it would be a “cohesive and united” administration.
The scenario changed in 2023 with the socialists nearing an absolute majority and the ACP going from 3 to 2 councillors. The harmony was short-lived. The ACP’s abstention in two credit modifications totalling almost one million Euros for the Fiestas sector during the April plenary session signified a turning point in their relationship. The PSOE proposed to renew the pact with an additional clause that their partners deemed as “coercive”, requiring them to vote in alignment during plenary sessions, a condition that the ACP disagreed with.
Two months later, due to what they deemed a “disastrous” management by the PSOE, the PP, CC, and ACP were compelled to form an “emergency” alliance to govern the tourist city.
The individual set to assume leadership is Leopoldo Afonso, brother of the current vice president of the Cabildo and former mayor of El Puerto, Lope Afonso. His political journey began during this term as an opposition councillor, albeit always affiliated with the PP. Presently, he is the head of the municipal group, and if there are no last-minute alterations, he is set to succeed Marco González today with the support of the ACP and CC. However, it remains to be seen if the tides will turn in favour of the PSOE by 2027.
