For a long time, the Popular Alliance devised by Fraga, following a significant investment in cosmetics, which transformed him, along with the other six founding Francoist ministers, into a lifelong democrat almost overnight, struggled to make any impact in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, especially on the Isla Picuda. Suárez’s UCD clearly won the first two general elections (1977 and 1979) across these four islands, and in the local elections of 1979, power did not favour the less complex conservatives from their past, with the exception of a practically residual Fuerza Nueva. In those early municipal elections, the majority of mayoralties and insular presidencies were held by the so-called centrist coalition (also mixed with Francoists or at least people who opposed the regime little, but well… they were centrist now), the PSOE, and some force “neither left nor right”, as Isaac Valencia liked to say (AIO, later ATI-AIC and then CC) in municipalities such as La Orotava, Arafo (with the illustrious Francoist Domingo Calzadilla), Santa Úrsula (with AISU and Fernando Luis, in power since 1964), El Rosario, or La Victoria, among others.
Everything changed in October 1982 with Felipe González’s overwhelming victory, and in the local elections of 1983, the socialists expanded their recent power across the province of Tenerife. The former UCD was dressed up since then as ATI-AIC (later CC), and “centrist” politicians, now part of history (as it is clear they played a role in Canary autonomy), transformed from convinced Suarists to insularists, and subsequently to regionalists, such as Manuel Hermoso, Adán Martín, Ana Oramas (the three in Santa Cruz with UCD), Paulino Rivero (the same, but in El Sauzal)… The AP hardly made any headway during those “Felipist” and “Aticist” 1980s, with some exceptions, such as the mayorship of Guía de Isora from 1983 to 1987 as a Popular Coalition or the small northern municipality of El Tanque in that same term.
This scenario continued for the Spanish right in Tenerife and the rest of the province despite its transformation into the PP in 1989. In fact, although it co-governed in the Canary Islands with the centre-right pact from 1987 to 1991 (including a vote of confidence lost by Fernando Fernández – CDS) and did so again from 1993 (censorship of socialist Saavedra) until 2011 (when Paulino Rivero had already broken with Soria and settled in the PSOE of José Miguel Pérez), it wasn’t really until that year 2011 that the popular party began to emerge with any significant mayorship on the Island of Teide. The only exception was Güímar from 1996 to 1999 with Vicenta Díaz following a vote of no confidence against the PSOE. They also did it with the current regional vice president, Manuel Domínguez, after a spectacular absolute majority victory (11) in Los Realejos, once a historical fiefdom of the PSOE (from 1979 to 2003). After transitioning from two councillors in 2003 (serving as deputy to Sebastián Ledesma while co-governing with the CC of Oswaldo Amaro) to six in 2007, already with him as a candidate, the nationalists and socialists tried to negotiate against him to extinguish his bright star. This clearly backfired as the PP in Realejo only grew afterwards and has repeatedly secured 15 out of 21 councillors, most recently with Adolfo González and with a greater percentage of votes than with Domínguez, to the surprise of many, from a stunned local PSOE and an increasingly fragmented alternative left.
Los Realejos as a Case Study of Conservative Governance
Los Realejos became a benchmark for how the PP could perform in significant councils, and in 2015, the sociological ground it had wrested from CC in that municipality also transformed into Puerto de la Cruz, where Lope Afonso, the current vice president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, flipped the conservative vote, secured 7 councillors, and left CC with 4, although Marco González (PSOE, with 7 representatives) won the most votes. Until then, the PP’s highest record in the main city of North Tenerife was 6 seats in 1995 with Antonio Castro as a candidate (the son of a Francoist mayor), although in a colossal mistake, it handed over the mayorship to Marcos Brito – a councillor during the dictatorship, mayor before democracy, a key figure in ATI and later in CC. Since then, the PP has always been ahead of CC, which now has 2 councillors compared to 7 for the conservatives, 10 for the PSOE, and 2 for ACP.
Another milestone for the PP was achieved by Emilio Navarro with his absolute majority in Santiago del Teide in 2015, which he later renewed, having inherited it from Juan Gorrín from 2011 to 2015, after leaving CC due to the Los Guíos beach controversy. Moreover, Antonio Hernández also secured La Guancha (another socialist stronghold until 1999 and CC until 2015) in that same 2015, albeit thanks to a pact with the PSOE, which was broken last June following Hernández’s resignation and a PP councillor’s vote in favour of CC.
However, the spread of PP’s power in Tenerife continued to be resisted by the sociological force in the centre-right spectrum of CC. Nevertheless, everything changed in 2023. The PP returned to regional co-governance alongside CC (and ASG, and AHI) and did likewise in the Cabildo of Tenerife (together with Rosa Dávila), but made a local jump. Fátima Lemes, for instance, facilitated the first conservative mayoralty in the tourist municipality of Arona, the third largest in population on the Island and an economic motor of the South alongside Adeje and Granadilla. However, her power had to be consolidated within Vox after breaking with Más por Arona last January, with CC transformed into a “supporting” or auxiliary role in both phases, far from those absolute majorities of Berto (José Alberto González Reverón, later convicted of corruption in the Arona case) in 2007 and 2011.
Additionally, the PP entered the historic government of Guía de Isora after numerous mandates from the socialist Pedro Martín (1995-2019) and Josefa Mesa (2019-2023). They did so alongside Ana Dorta (CC), although the governing team now wobbles after the departure of two councillors (one from CC and another from the PP) to the non-affiliated section. Despite this, the PSOE remains hesitant to engage in substantive negotiations or present a motion of censure as they are unsure it would succeed, fearing that someone might backtrack at the last minute, and prefer to present a strong alternative in 2027 unless a management crisis reaches intolerable levels. Also, the PP struck a pact with the PSOE in Arico, and if the agreement holds, Andrés Martín will be mayor by the end of this year.
Movements that Domínguez Disliked during the 2023 Swearing-in
Indeed, what transpired during the swearing-in in June 2023 was not well received by the popular leaders in some areas. For instance, they opened an investigation into the two councillors from Granadilla who allied with the socialist Jénnifer Miranda to make her the mayor of this significant southern municipality, even though the right had more councillors (CC with 10, PP with 2, and Vox with another 2 against 11 from the PSOE). Despite many denying it and even laughing, from the outset, the PP tried to reverse this situation (the former nationalist mayor Domingo Regalado acted as an advisor to Fernando Clavijo in the Presidency and did not stop pulling strings until the past March to regain control). While Manuel Domínguez could not convince councillor Bianca Cerbán, loyal to the agreement with the PSOE, he did so with the candidate, Marcos Antonio Rodríguez, despite him initially claiming otherwise and swearing just before that he would not break the deal. The motion of censure, which Canarias Ahora previewed from August 17, 2024, required again the support of Vox, just like in Arona, breaking one of the supposed red lines (rather military green) that Clavijo often discussed regarding the “extremes” on the left (Podemos) and right (Abascal’s group and similar).
Yet a day before Canarias Ahora reported the PP’s intent and actions to continue extending their power in Granadilla, Güímar, Arico—if Todos Somos Arico were to join forces with CC, which ultimately they rejected unanimously in a September 2024 assembly—and, with fewer options, in Icod de los Vinos, Domínguez confirmed a surprise that is still hard to believe. The Port Citizens’ Assembly (ACP), a party supposedly to the left of social democracy, was ready to break with the PSOE of Marco González (who fell just 12 votes short of an absolute majority) in Puerto de la Cruz, strike a deal with the PP and CC, and return the mayorship to the conservatives, represented now by Lope Afonso’s brother, Leopoldo, because the candidate in 2023, Ángel Montañés, was “elevated” to the General Directorate of Ecological Transition. This culminated in another historic censure against the socialists of Puerto (after the ones in 1995 against Salvador García and in 2009 at the expense of Lola Padrón) and allowed the PP to rub shoulders with the PSOE and CC with several important mayorships on the Island: Arona, Puerto, Los Realejos, Santiago del Teide…
But they wanted more and kept their eyes on Granadilla to flip the situation and hand a key mayoralty to CC, aiming to recover Güímar instead. Although CC attempted to persuade the Güímar mayor, Gustavo Pérez, with a significant regional or insular position to break with the PSOE, ultimately the illustrious Luisi Castro (who will be remembered for her neighbourhood excursions to Valle de los Caídos with public money) will recover the mayoralty on the upcoming August 12 thanks to a councillor from NC and two defectors from the PSOE. The nationalists lament that this occurs when the municipality is at its “best”, yet they do not contemplate any counterattack (for now).
They will Face the 2027 Elections with More Power than Ever on the Island
Thus, the conservatives will add another mayoralty and position themselves in a local power dynamic in Tenerife that they have never before held ahead of the 2027 elections. This is despite the surprising loss of La Guancha after a move by the former mayor, which is only understandable given his considerable differences with Lope Afonso and the many disagreements he had with higher-level administrations, even while his party was co-governing. And all this with a CC that fears that the sociological shifts they have experienced in Los Realejos and Puerto de la Cruz (even in Santiago del Teide, where they were also once hegemonic) may extend or solidify in Arona and other municipalities, while the PSOE hovers but does not act in Guía de Isora, despite being just one councillor away from an absolute majority and currently having two non-affiliated councillors. A PSOE which, moreover, has faced a significant portion of the recent motions of censure in Tenerife over the past several terms, thus becoming the prime target of government changes in the interim between elections every May, although they prefer to present themselves as a party of stability attempting to avoid such shifts.
Beyond the firm decision of Todos Somos Arico not to join CC and PP to return Olivia Delgado (PSOE) to opposition, the PP has only so far faltered in Icod, where young Javier Sierra (Alternativa Icodense and ex-PSOE) has established himself with 8 councillors, including the two from his former party and the ex-Ciudadanos who ran for CC, José Domingo Alonso, as well as a PP led by Coromoto Yanes (former CC) very distanced from the nationalists, although they have been offered a Senate position to attempt something. Those days of AP with no mayors in 1979 and seven founding Francoist ministers are long gone. Now, the Fuerza Nueva of that time has turned green as Vox, and co-governs as if nothing in Arona and Granadilla alongside a supposedly nationalist formation that should detest centralism and a PP that perceives itself as more powerful than ever in Tenerife, facing 2027 with justified ambition.
