The PP may now have a chance at the Mayor’s Office of Güímar in the short term, but they are reluctant to accept the sole condition that CC has imposed on a regional level to part ways with their partner since 2019 (the PSOE) and align with the conservatives: that their local leader, former mayor Luisi Castro, steps aside to facilitate this transition, given the strained relations with local nationalists.
The strategy was complex, but a fourth aspect emerged that altered certain dynamics. Since the establishment of the municipalities in this term in June 2023, the leadership of the Canary Islands PP has sought to overturn some agreements on islands such as Tenerife to counter their overarching pact (with notable exceptions like the Cabildo de Fuerteventura) with CC across the archipelago or to regain control they believe is rightfully theirs. Therefore, they focused their attention and efforts from the outset to alter the alliance concerning their two Discolos mayors in Granadilla de Abon from 2019.
However, along the journey, a possibility emerged that initially the conservative leadership on the islands did not foresee (and deemed unlikely), despite the precedent set in San Juan de la Rambla, where we have witnessed collaboration since June 2023 between CC and the PP to the detriment of the PSOE, which won the elections without securing an absolute majority. A scenario like this had not occurred during the previous term in Buenavista, where the Socialists faced exclusion in 2023 from their only CC mayor (who lost their position on 28m). In this instance, the fissure opened up in the main municipality in the north of Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz, a city governed by the PSOE and the Portuense Citizen Assembly (ACP) since 2019, which entered a phase of distrust and escalating tensions during this term. This culminated in months of negotiations leading to Marco González returning to the opposition, despite being just 12 votes shy of an absolute majority on 28m and increasing their representation by two councillors, amid losses for the PP and ACP.
This “unexpected” mayor’s office in favour of the conservative Leopoldo Afonso, brother of the former mayor and current vice president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Lope Afonso (notably, Leopoldo did not even lead the PP’s list, but ascended to the mayorship after the previous candidate, Ángel Montañés, moved to the General Directorate of Environment), weakened a bargaining chip. The return of power to CC in Granadilla needed to be compensated. The mayorship recently regained by Domingo Regalado in this other southern municipality of Tenerife, crucial for its 60,000 residents and infrastructure like the airport and the industrial port, was expected to balance out with Güímar in favour of Luisi Castro. However, taking the mayoral position in Puerto de la Cruz diluted this demand, as sources within the Canary Islands’ regional PP are now indicating.
As it stands now, sources confirm that after Granadilla, CC (at the regional level too) is only prepared to forgo the PSOE in Güímar in return for the PP sacrificing Luisi Castro, which the popular party completely dismisses. This, they concede, leaves them feeling entirely pessimistic about a shift in the municipality of Valle de Güímar for the remainder of the mandate, with Castro likely to continue negotiations with local groups (he has approached the PSOE and others for support) and, barring any unforeseen developments, will likely stand again as the lead candidate in 2027.
The third pivotal aspect was Arico, where Socialist Olivia Delgado (seemingly without needing the council’s composition) incorporated both PP councillors into her government in pursuit of stability, amidst holding a single councillor majority. However, the regional leaderships of the PP and CC also sought to alter this agreement in favour of CC in the Mayor’s Office; but similar to Puerto de la Cruz, they required the support of a left-wing party to displace the PSOE: Arico we are all. Nevertheless, by unanimous decision in assembly, the members of this party opted in September 2024 to dismiss any calls for censure and participate in a government, which, unlike the northern tourist city, hindered the plans of the PP and CC at higher levels, with the overarching arrangements in Granadilla and Güímar always in mind. Furthermore, in this case, the PP does not lose any influence since, due to the agreement with the PSOE in Arico, it will gain the command ahead at the end of this year until the next elections.
