The four councillors of Más Por Arona, dismissed by Mayor Fátima Lemes (PP) last Wednesday for “a lack of trust and team cohesion,” held a press conference yesterday in which they “utterly rejected” the justifications provided by the councillor for her decision to expel them from the administration.
“There is no objective reason and nothing substantiates this choice, which has been cowardly, politically motivated, and a grave error due to the harm it will inflict on our community,” stated Dácil León, the former second deputy mayor and former councillor for Tourism, Economic Development, Primary Sector, and Employment. She also condemned the stance of the Canarian Coalition, a coalition partner of the Popular Party, labelling it as “cowardly”: “They could have acted much more decisively, had they chosen to; their reluctance to take a stand against this unilateral decision from the mayor suggests complicity and endorsement.” In her view, the nationalist party has not shown “any sensitivity” towards the municipality’s circumstances, as “the party’s interests have overshadowed those of the residents.”
PROGRESS AT STAKE
Dácil León cautioned about the likely integration of the two Vox councillors into the governing body. “The Popular Party and the Canarian Coalition are permitting the far-right to infiltrate our municipality, under an agreement that the mayor has already acknowledged, presenting considerable risks for the advancement of Arona and potentially undermining the foundations of social and cultural policies centred on diversity, equality, and employability,” she asserted.
The leading figure of Más por Arona in the recent municipal elections in 2023 disclosed the typical disagreements her political party raised during the tripartite meetings aimed at monitoring their coalition: “Our primary concerns in the pact discussions included stringent oversight of institutional communication by the Mayor’s Office and the evident partiality displayed in the management of human resources in the priorities of municipal governance. Moreover, there was notable interference from the mayor in the domains managed by CC, but particularly those overseen by Más por Arona. In her opinion, Fátima Lemes’s behaviour contradicted the core principles of the government agreement, as the autonomy of our areas was disregarded, leading to redundancy in the decision-making of the Mayor’s Office.”
Dácil León, accompanied by councillors Luis García, Juan Sebastián Roque, and Pura Martín, affirmed that their party holds a vision for the southern municipality where “everyone receives equal opportunities, enabling enhanced access to housing and improved employment prospects, and where regeneration and economic advancement become realities supported by public and private investment.”
Yesterday, the president of the Tenerife Council and secretary of the Organisation of the Canarian Coalition, Rosa Dávila, commented on the political strife in Arona. When asked if she would endorse the inclusion of the Vox councillors in the Arona administration, she replied on the Being chain that “there is no alternative, in the sense that stability must be ensured.”
After noting that the decision arose from the mayor’s “exercise of her authority,” Dávila conceded that “we were not at odds with Más Por Arona, it must be acknowledged.” As for the evolving political landscape in the southern municipality, the most populous in the region, she remarked that “it will be the mayor who engages with all groups to determine whether she can govern as a minority, with specific support, or if the intention is to form a government, but we shall await the dialogue to unfold.”
