Alone or together with Vox, the dilemma of the PP in the Valencian cities that captivates the left

The main Valencian towns will be governed by mayors of the Popular Party who will govern in an absolute majority such significant places as Benidorm or Torrevieja, alone with sporadic agreements pacts, as the candidates of Valencia, Marìa José Catalá, and Alicante, Luis Barcala, have already announced. or thanks to a pact negotiated with Vox, as will probably be the case with Pablo Ruz in Elx or Amparo Folgado in Torrent.

If the triumph of the PP leaves any image, it is that of the triumphant embrace between Carlos Mazón and María José Catalá in Valencia, an important square and city of which the latter could be mayor with the support of Vox. The candidacy of the declared successor of Rita Barberá obtains 151,482 in the Valencian capital, 36.62% of the votes and represents the return of the PP after eight years of the Joan Ribó era, of Compromís, who had the support of the PSPV in the so-called Rialto government. Podem’s 9,677 votes have not allowed him to enter the consistory. Catalá has expressed her intention not to include Vox in her government team, but she will have to negotiate the support of the 4 far-right councilors to be invested, because her 13 councilors do not exceed 16 of the sum of Compromís (9) and PSPV (7).

The provincial map of Valencia is also stained blue, although the PSPV could save the Diputación, if the very tight count is settled in their favor. The PP snatches Torrent from the PSPV; The 25 councilors are divided into 10 for the PSPV, 9 for the PP, 4 for Vox and 2 for Compromís, so despite the victory of the now mayor Jesús Ros, he will not be able to govern against the right-wing alliance. The most likely mayoress is the popular Amparo Folgado.

The two large Valencian municipalities that remain for socialism are Gandía, where José Manuel Prieto is one councilor short of an absolute majority; and Paterna, where Juan Antonio Sagredo revalidates it. Despite the debacle, the socialists retain symbolic cities such as Mislata, Sagunt or Almussafes. In the first, Carlos Fernández Bielsa managed to revalidate his absolute majority, with 14 councillors; Just like Darío Moreno, that he capitalizes on the ‘gigafactory effect’ with an increase of five councilors that will allow him to govern with a progressive agreement. Almussafes, headquarters of the Ford factory, Toni González also maintains the absolute majority for the PSPV.

He has not achieved the comfortable absolute majority of Toni Pérez in Benidorm or Eduardo Dolón in Torrevieja, but the 14 councilors obtained by the candidacy he leads will allow Luis Barcala to govern the Alicante capital alone. Because, in his case, the sum of PSPV (8), Compromís (2) and EU-Podem (1) is far from constituting an alternative to the popular ones in the investiture, which leaves little room for Vox to condition Barcala, despite the fact that the far-right formation doubles its representation by achieving 4 representatives.

However, Barcala will have to negotiate to approve the municipal budgets, something that he has not achieved with the 2023 accounts despite also having 14 councilors on his side, although five of the members of his government team belonged to Ciudadanos, now disappeared from the full.

More complex is the situation of Pablo Ruz, PP candidate in Elx, who already on Sunday night contacted the head of the Vox list, Aurora Rodil, whose votes he needs to be invested as mayor, since the PSPV maintains the most voted list: Carlos González’s candidacy has 12 councillors, the PP has 11, Vox 3 and Compromis 1.

The PP increases in Benidorm the comfortable absolute majority of Toni Pérez, who sounds like the future president of the Provincial Council (in the campaign he assured that he would be compatible with the mayoralty), although Ana Serna, current vice president and mayor of Albatera, also appears in the pools; like Eduardo Dolón, who is also supported by his results in Torrevieja, where he wins two mayors and adds 16 of the 25 totals. The PP would add 17 provincial deputies, recovering an absolute majority that it lost in 2015 with the emergence of Ciudadanos, to 13 from the PP. Vox opens in the institution with a representative for L’Alacantí while Compromís loses the one it had.

In the province of Castellón, the Popular Party also holds municipal power. Their candidacies get 509 councilors, 38.07% of the total and a six-point difference with respect to the second force, the PSPV, so the Provincial Council also falls into the hands of the popular and José Martí, mayor of Suera, will lose The charge. Instead, he will maintain the mayoralty of his town, where he will be able to govern with the support of Compromís.

In the capital, the Popular Party recovers the capital of La Plana and its candidate Begoña Carrasco will be the next mayor, the first of the popular in a city where the former president of the Generalitat Alberto Fabra governed. The PP is the force with the most votes and obtains 11 councilors, four more than in 2019. The PSPV of Amparo Marco, the mayor until now, remains with nine, one less than in the previous elections. However, the right gets an absolute majority, as Vox goes from one councilor to three. Ciudadanos loses all representation – it had four councilors – and Compromís maintains its three representatives although it grows slightly in votes. The Fadrell Agreement that occurred in the previous elections does not add up, since the leftist forces are left with 12 councillors, when Podem-EUPV was left out.

Among the relevant cities of the province, in Vila-real the PSPV of José Benlloch will be able to maintain the government, since it remains the first political force although it goes from 13 councilors to 11. In this municipality the PP also grows – it goes from 5 to 8 ediles- although not enough to join Vox, which rises from 1 to 3 Vox councillors. Also in La Vall d’Uixò, the young socialist Tania Baños will continue as mayor. The PP, second force, grows by three councilors and goes from 5 to 8.

However, Burriana and Almassora change political color. In the first, the PP obtains 8 councillors, two more than in the previous elections and Vox also grows from 2 to 4. Thus, if the popular Jorge Monferrer agrees with the extreme right, he will be able to govern. In Almassora there will also be a change in the mayor’s office, as the PP gets one more councilor and becomes the first force, while the PSPV loses two councilors and Merche Galí will hand over to the popular María Tomo, who will be able to govern with the support of Vox, which goes from 1 to 3 councilors.