Trinidad Herrera made her intentions very clear during her acceptance speech, which drew enthusiastic applause from the packed-out public gallery: she will base her term in office on three pillars: dialogue, dialogue & dialogue, meaning that there would be no more political tension between parties.

This sentiment was echoed by the PA, PSOE and IU. The leader of the PA, for example, said that Juan Carlos Benavides was the most intelligent man that he had ever met and that Benavides knew better than anyone the ins and outs of running a town hall, but in the opinion of the PA leader, Luis Aragon, the ex-Mayor, lacked other very necessary qualities, such as humility, a disposition to listen and negotiate – he also lacked having respect for others.

The PSOE leader, Paco Prados, said that the citizens of Almunecar wanted ‘social peace.’ saying that people needed to be able to enter the town hall without fearing it.

Eva Gaitan, who took over the candidacy for Mayor from Benavides blamed the other political parties for seeking to sink Benavides above all else, and that now he no longer headed the party, bygones should be bygones. She also cited a comment from Johnathan Swift: When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. This comment produced both jeering and applause from the audience.

Nothing was clear cut when the voting began; Trinidad said that when she walked into the Casa de la Cultura, she had no way of knowing whether she would walk out as the first Mayoress of Almunecar.

The final instructions from the provincial head office of the PSOE was not to support with their votes the conservatives, but the local branch held a last minute meeting with its members, who expressed, without reservation, that there was no way that the local PSOE should permit Benavides to continue as mayor by either voting against Trinidad or abstaining. Paco Prados said that the town comes before the party and they drew lots to see who would vote in favour of Trinidad to ensure her victory.

The socialist provincial body has announced that they have initiated an investigation into who it was that disobeyed their express orders.

From the Gazette‘s point of view, it was refreshing to see politicians, regardless of their political colour, regardless of their reasons, putting the people who vote for them first, instead of the party.

As for Trinidad’s pledges, she announced that she would be cutting the Mayoralty’s salary by 20,000 euros per annum (a 25% cut). It is hoped that the other councillors will have the decency to do something similar, in these tight economic times.

She also said that the Almunecar PGOU and the La Herradura projected paseo will be the two main priorities of her office.

(news: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

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