In a surprisingly big win for the man dubbed turncoat, more than 75% of eligible members of PSOE in Ronda voted to endorse Antonio Marin Lara as their candidate for mayor in the 2011 municipal elections.
Marin Lara has come under considerable pressure to bring the party militants under control after several high profile disputes, including the resignation of Maribel Morales from council in 2010 over disagreements of council direction, and a serious rebellion within the ranks that prevented his candidacy being endorsed in December.
Today’s vote means that PSOE, currently the governing party in Ronda is now ready and committed to fighting the local elections without fear of internal rebellion, and with much the same core group of councillors as currently sit, and giving Marin Lara the opportunity to reinforce his party message that a vote for PSOE is a vote for leaders with experience.
By contrast, the other two main parties in Ronda, the Partido Popular (PP) and Partido Andalucista (PA) are led by new politicians with no previous local government experience. Antonio Marin Lara and Francisco Cañestro, the president of PSOE in Ronda, have repeatedly commented that a vote for the opposition would see many months of instability as new councillors learn about governance.
The endorsement of Marin Lara and his team, which includes 7 of the former PA councillors who joined PSOE in 2010 and caused a national debate about turncoat politicians and the effectiveness of the antitransfugas agreement between all major political parties, an agreement that has subsequently collapsed paving the way for Marin Lara’s endorsement today.
The list of council candidates for PSOE is as follows, Antonio María Marín Lara, Francisco Jesús Cañestro Aranda, María José Martín de Haro, Rubén Morales Flores, María del Carmen Arroyo Flores, Rafael Lara López, Francisco Javier Calvente Mena, Josefa Valle Álvarez, Margarita Perujo Nebro, Alberto Orozco Perujo, Lidia García Sánchez, Carlos Mirasol García, Yolanda Ramírez Gil, María Teresa Valdenebro Ríos, Antonio Pacheco Jiménez, Yolanda Ríos Pinteño, Juan Manuel Medina Guzmán, Isabel Avilés Pluma, Elena García Colsa, Francisco Manuel Garrido Oliver, and José Antonio Vivas Algüera.
In related news, Andalusian president of PP Javier Arenas, and Malaga president of PP Elijah Bendodo arrived in Ronda today to publicly support Ronda PP candidate María Paz Fernandez as she kicked off her election campaign.
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