The provincial headquarters of the PA – Benavides’ old party – announced that it had not closed its doors to their ex-star player returning.
What does this mean? For years Almuñécar was the stronghold in votes for the Partido Andalucista; nobody in this regional political party obtained more votes for the party than Juan Carlos Benavides… then they fell out, with the PA dropping Benavides – big mistake.
Benavides immediately signed up with an obscure regional party that nobody had heard of, the Convergencia Andaluza, and took his nine councillors and most of the party members with him, gutting the Almuñécar branch of the PA. He went on to win the next municipal elections for the CA and the Almuñécar PA dropped into obscurity, as did the PA on the wider Andalusian front.
However, in the last municipal elections, Benavides lost a lot of votes, mainly in La Herradura, leaving him short of a majority to rule, even though he had more councillor seats than anybody else.
Where did those lost votes go? They went to the IU and to the PA, headed by Luis Aragón, giving him the swing councillor seats (2). Thanks to a pact between the PA and the PP, the latter was able to form a stable municipal majority and the Mayor’s office went to PP candidate, Trinidad Herrera.
Here’s the crunch. If a deal is struck with the provincial PA leaders and Benny returns to the PA, taking his councillors with him, dropping the CA, then he will have the majority in Almuñécar and the PP/PA pact splits asunder.
Benavides and Aragón aren’t exactly on each others’ Christmas card lists, with the former considering the latter a turn coat. There is no way that the provincial heads will convince Aragón to move over to make way for Benavides as head of the Almuñécar PA again.
In the meantime, Juan Carlos Benavides has refused to make any public comment on the subject, but who knows what is going on behind the scenes?
With both the PSOE and PP suffering tremendous credibility attrition on a national level, when according to recent polls, these two parties that dominate national politics can’t even attract 60% of the national votes between, it has unquestionably become the golden moment for smaller parties across the land.
Will Benavides make his move soon on the Mayor’s office for the coming municipal elections less than two years away. With the possible PA offer on the table, he might not even have to wait until then.
What could keep him back for the moment? The pending court verdict for his allegedly obstructing the regional Ombudsman office function, where he faces a 2-year ban on holding public office if found guilty.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)