mitzipurr

Picked up a leaflet yesterday in Monopoly shop Chiclana - the PSA party have printed them in English and asking for us to register on the Electoral Roll in order to have a vote in May.

They give instructions on where to go and offer to help you with registering and tell you what documents to take.

Think it important to have your say????

Fortaleza

I know that the ex-pat community in and around Chiclana is a pretty tight group. I would suggest that you get together - quickly - and you can possibly have a MASSIVE effect on the election. I know many are unhappy with the current regime.

The key is to have the expats, as much as possible, voting in unison.

The PSOE (centre/left despite its name!) Chiclana council has not changed hands since the early 80's. They have an absoloute majority which they have enjoyed for nearly all their time in office. This election will be different in that the mayor who won the last election, the widely respected Manuel Jimenez Barrios, has handed the reigns over to Jose Maria Roman and it remains to be seen whether Chiclaneros will warm to him as they did Jimenez Barrios.

There being a new face, and polemic issues such as the Plaza Mayor development and the kerfuffle over the 'illegal' houses etc, mean the other parties feel confident they can at least break the absolute majority.

In 2003 PSOE won 16 of the 25 seats, with PP (right/centre-right) winning 6, Izquierda Unida (left) 1 seat, Partido Socialista de Andalucia (PSA) winning 2 seats whilst PA (The Nationalist Andalucian party) and PAPI (for independent pensioners and welf employed) scored zero.

The turn out was low - 45% and indications are that it won't be much higher this time around.

This is where the expat community can make a real difference. If you are unhappy with the current council (as I know many are), form yourselves into a group and "sell" your support. The best way in my opinion is to appraoch the second placed party - in this case PP. Ask them what will they do for your group if you supported them.

Taking this a stage further, try to get an ex-pat representative onto the party's list of candidates. In the last election PP got 6 seats, so their immediate target this time around is to get 7. In return for your support as a group of voters, insist that they install your expat candidate at number 7 on their list.

If organised correctly amongst yourselves you can get a voice on the council.

mikelincs

Several of the political parties here in Orihuela Costa have done the same, even providing you with the necessary forms as Alicante said they sent them out, but they were returned as undeliverable. Soon after, lo and behold, we got the forms, they had re-sent them, only had to fill in and sign and we are registered. Don't forget, you have to register by the end of January.

Big_john

Well said "FORTALEZA" .........if everyone carried out the advice that "FORTALEZA" has stated we as Extra Canaries would carry a lot more weight on and in the local elections


Big_john Spain


Big_john Spain

mitzipurr

Yes I agree with fortaleaza - and I for one will be registering next week!!

culchie

Fantastic info., Fortaleza. Thank you.

OK - who's up for organising ourselves into a group with a voice?

wheatsheaf42

Its a great idea to participate. The strength of the Expat brigade should be enough to form a group of its own eventually I would imagine to put up candidates for the council AND mayor. Why on earth not? All it needs is a few Spanish -speaking Expats to put themselves about and get themselves known and learn the local voting process. People like Fortaleza can be a massive help in explaining the processes- how you know who the voters are ( you gotta knock on their door!), where and how to vote and registration of political groups.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the politics and parties at least we Brits do have a sense of fair play in governance and should start to have a voice. I get the impression that Spanish local politics stinks and, whatever people think about the UK, we are mercifully non-corrupt. The sooner Expats get involved at the sharp end the better. Don't forget the Expats from other countries either.

Sounds to me like a great way to spend some time on a project which is essentially to protect the area where you live.

mikelincs

There are already groups representing the interests of the mainly ex pat areas round here, but they just set themselves up as representing the interests of the area, our local council is based in Orihuela, and although a large majority of the area is the Costa, it has been impossible to get the local mayor to even visit the area, so we have a group set up to represent all the Costa inhabitants, both Spanish and ex pat, to fight the local councils, and it is the activity by that group that seems to have been the thing that has spurred the other parties into action. So i suspect that, even if a local party didn't win seats, it would act as a spur, reminding those in power that there were others in the area.

wheatsheaf42

The key to winning seats and therefore influence is by the groups getting/working together, pooling resources and targetting. Unless people do this their votes could be limited in value. Knowledge of the process and voting system is vital as I expect its not like the UK where you have "wards" or "first past the post".

Fortaleza

It's PR.

That's why I said you should insist on getting your candidate attached to a list. It depends how strong or big your group is. You're absolutely right, this only works if you vote en bloc. Let's imagine you can be resonably sure of say 200 expats in your area voting. Becasue of the PR system, any party will love to have those 200 (new) votes guaranteed. In the example of Chiclana, the second place party has 6 seats so I would suggest that the expats of Chiclana should offer their vote to PP on the condition that they have a candidate at number 7 on the list. If PP increase their vote as a direct result of expat support, then it is only fair that you get something out of it.

wheatsheaf42

Either that or have a separate Expat list. PP isn't the only party. Given the corruption in the existing parties people might want to have a clean slate- pun intended. Does 200 votes make a difference in Chiclana? If people knew the voting numbers last time it may give a clue how effective the Expat voter turnout might be and the activists there could take a view which way to go.

Fortaleza

No PP isn't the only party. In the case of Chiclana, however, they are the only party likely to make a difference as PSOE have 16 seats, PP 6, PSA 2, IU 1. Throwing your lot in with the smaller parties may be nice but unlikely to achieve anything. PP will have quite a big budget and can help you.

In terms of numbers, PSOE polled 13,000 votes to PP's 5000. The other 4 parties collectively polled 4000.So that's 13,000 for the council and 9000 against. Cutting the absolute majority is a realistic target.

In a PR system, every vote is important whether it's a 200 bloc or just one vote. It all comes down to percentage share of the vote in the end therefore every vote counts.

I'm not from Chiclana so I only used that town as an example because the original poster is from there. Every election I get frustrated that so many expats simply don't realise the difference they can make, especially in the densly populated Costa del Sol and Alicante regions.