Let’s try and simplify things a little. You’ve all heard of the ex-Mayor, of Almuñécar, Juan Carlos Benavides, commonly known amongst the English speaking population of the area as simply ‘Benny.’

Well, in 2006 Benny was the Mayor of Almuñécar, but fell out with his party, the PA (we won’t explain what all the initials stand for… let’s be honest, who cares?). So off he popped and joined an obscure, little-known regional party, the CA, taking loads of his mates with him, leaving the PA in tatters.

Move on seven years and Benny failed to win a majority big enough to beat the combined opposition parties, which allied against him and lost the mayoralty. However, his old party has managed to drag itself up to form a fairly credible political presence, forming a coalition with the current Mayor, Trinidad Herrera. Of course, anyone in power at the moment is left vulnerable by the economic constraints under which they are trying to rule… thus the rather gutsy Trinidad will probably find herself ousted at the next elections.

Now, Benny has always had an eye for an opening, so when the PA party HQ in Granada got down on their knees and begged him to come back, all was set for a triumphal return to the PA… bringing back with him all his CA councillors. Result: he may just have enough pull to win an outright majority.

However, the stone in the training shoe is that some in the Almuñécar branch of the PA are still smarting from the kick in the plums delivered by Benny with his desertion in 2006. Those plums are still smarting and they have decided they will not be able to work with the man, so they have decided they will set up a new party to be called MásAlmuñécar, or, the MA.

So, in mathematical terms it looks like this: 2006 = PA ÷ CA = CA + pa > 2013 = CA x PA = PA + ma. There, told you we would simplify things for you.

Now, why Benny = Marmite as a title? Well, the thing about Marmite and, in fact, the slogan of the product in the UK, is that ‘you either love it or you hate it.’ This is very much the case with Benny, he is both loved and reviled in equal measures, with the pro-Benny camp always remembering his days as a popular and hardworking GP in the community, his easygoing manner and ability to face questions without the need of any notes, whilst the denigrators point out alleged dodgy dealings and the abandonment of his party in 2006.

We’ll see… if you had a spare €20-euro note after Christmas, would you bet it against Benny getting back in?

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