With the official incorporation of the ex-PSI councillor into the municipal governing council, the Mayor, Gonzalo Fernández Pulido, now controls a majority government, which will make his life a lot easier when it come to getting things passed by the councillor plenary meetings.

The said ex-PSI councillor, Javier Ortega Prados brought 18 ex-PSI militants with him, all of whom were incorporated into the ranks of the local PSOE after an extraordinary meeting of the party board.

This mass defection from the Partido Socialista Independiente, which in itself was a mass defection from the PSOE around a decade back, has reunited the majority of the Salobreña socialists under one party again.

Councillor Javier Ortega Prados has been give the post as Head of the Public Works Department, combining this post with the position of Councillor for Sports. However, he admitted at the press meeting that he had received interesting offers from both the IU and CA, as well, which he turned down in favour of the PSOE’s offer – the difference being, as the cynical will point out, as a councillor within the governing council, he has secured a handsome salary.

What will happen to the PSI after this is not certain and Sr Prados declined to comment on what he believed would happen. He considered that he and the 18 ‘defectors’ were the most active members of the PSI, however.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)