ARCHIVED - Murcia government faces unexpected vote of no confidence and new female president

Ciudadanos breaks the coalition in government as Fernando López Miras faces a sudden end to his term in office

Image: Ana Martínez Vidal, who is currently minister for Business and Industry

Wednesday morning began with the breaking news that there could be an imminent change in the regional government of Murcia, with the PSOE and Ciudadanos parties presenting a motion of no confidence in the current administration led by president Fernando López Miras in a development which few had seen coming, at least with so little warning.

Following the election held in May 2019 a precarious joint government was formed by Sr López Miras’ regional PP party, which won 16 of the 45 seats in the regional parliament, and the Ciudadanos group, which took another 6, despite the fact that the PSOE party (led in Murcia by Diego Conesa) won more votes than either of them and is now represented by 17 regional MPS.

Since then, though, the alliance between the PP and Ciudadanos has become increasingly strained, and the upshot is the motion of no confidence which is to be presented on Wednesday in the regional parliament in Cartagena.

Should the motion be passed, it will mean the formation of a new government in Murcia, with speculation focussing on the possibility that the new president could be the leader of Ciudadanos in Murcia, Ana Martínez Vidal, who is currently minister for Business and Industry in Sr López’s government.

In addition, it is reported that the agreement which appears to have been reached between the PSOE and Ciudadanos would also include a coup in the Town Hall of Murcia, where the two parties would pool their resources to oust Mayor José Ballesta and replace him with the PSOE spokesman José Antonio Serrano.

There has been tension in the governing alliance between the PP and Ciudadanos since it was formed, both in the regional government and in the Town Hall of Murcia, and this has been exacerbated in recent weeks by at least two controversies. The first involved the vaccination “queue-jumping” by high-ranking individuals in the Health department of the government, which led to the resignation of the minister responsible, Manuel Villegas (although Sra Martínez Vidal demanded that more heads should roll and the full list of all those vaccinated be made public), and the second was the pact reached between the PP and the far-right Vox party last week in order to ensure the latter’s support for the proposed regional government budget.

However, it appears that this motion of no confidence has been in the planning stages for weeks, although it caught the governing PP totally by surprise; regional president Fernando López Miras arrived at the regional assembly this morning for business as normal and upon learning of the motion, rapidly left the building and went immediately to PP headquarters in Murcia, calling an emergency meeting.

This pact includes concessions to Vox which are not acceptable in the eyes of Ciudadanos, and almost certainly was the straw which broke the camel’s back and led to Ciudadanos seeking an alternative alliance.

The PP has ruled the Murcia region uninterrupted for the last 26 years.

Under the agreement proposed from today, the PSOE will take six regional ministries and Ciudadanos, three, plus the seat of the president.

In the case of the City of Murcia municipal government there has been considerable upset in the last few weeks in relation to Ciudadanos councillor Mario Gómez, who was denounced by his PP fellow councillors for alleged mis-conduct towards a staff member, but justified his actions by presenting a dossier to the police containing a significant volume of documentation alleging irregularities in the management of the Murcia town hall.

A motion of no confidence in the ruling PP Mayor, José Ballesta, who won 11 seats in the last election, short of the 15 needed for a majority and governs only because of the alliance with Ciudadanos has also been presented. In order to unseat José Ballesta the agreement of Podemos was also required and it has been reported this morning that the motion has been signed by the PSOE, Ciudadanos and Podemos to unseat the Mayor and take over the council government. The motion must be ratified at the next council pleno which is on the 24th March.

This unexpected turn of events could also cause upset in four other town halls of the region; Caravaca de la Cruz, Fuente Álamo, Ceutí and Pliego, in which the PP are in power because of an agreement with Ciudadanos following the last elections. In each case, a motion of no confidence would be presented at the next pleno meeting, unseating the PP and bringing in a coalition government pacted between the PSOE and Ciudadanos. However, this is not clear at the moment as there are some denials that changes will take place in these four municipal town halls.