When the Spanish use the expression, ni golpe, it literally means when referring to somebody’s efforts, they haven’t lifted a finger. Read on.

The Partido Popular in Salobreña won four councillor seats in the last municipal elections, but you wouldn’t have guessed, because there only appears to be three. The fourth is nowhere to be seen in normal council activities, nor does he participate in party activity, either.

We’re talking about Juan de Dios Márquez, who won his seat thanks mainly to the votes from his home village, Lobres. Sr. Márquez refuses to give up his councillorship, however and insists that even though his shadow never falls upon the Town Hall steps, he carries out many of his councillor duties from home.

He claims that his absence is due to family reasons: “I left a small baby girl at home and now what I see is a little lady,” he says, going on to the say that the “millions” of hours that he used to dedicate to his job had deprived him of the best years of his children’s lives.

But Sr. Márquez also holds down a job in the bank, which he says, stops him from putting the hours in on party affairs.

Apart from that, he feels hard-done-by within the party. He first held office under the previous conservative mayor, Jesús Avelino Menéndez, who later passed him over. He was also active on a provincial level, but was also passed over by the provincial party leader, Sebastián Pérez. In short, he doesn’t feel as if his efforts to-date have been fully compensated.

“If I don’t go along to vote in the Town Council meetings, it makes no difference, because the ruling party has an absolute majority,” he reasoned.

Whilst the local party leader is “understanding” his fellow conservative councillors are not so. For PP Councillor Gustavo Aybar he is showing a total lack of respect for those that voted for him.

Editorial comment: If he considers that his vote is superfluous then he should hand back his councillor seat, surely? His job requires that he participates in council meetings. If he can’t be bothered then he shouldn’t be a councillor. Sulking is not an option.

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