A governing coalition pact has been finalised in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. The Popular Party–Agrupación de Vecinos will join forces with Coalición Canaria to govern the main tourist municipality of Gran Canaria for the next four years. Marco Aurelio Pérez will serve as the mayor for the entire term, with the Popular Party taking charge of areas such as Employment, Sports, Roads and Infrastructure, and Human Resources. Meanwhile, the nationalists led by Alejandro Marichal will oversee Urban Planning, Economy and Finance, and Tourism as their main departments.
San Bartolomé de Tirajana’s Town Hall is changing course as the two most voted parties in the May 28 elections have sealed an agreement to lead this new political mandate. “The commitment of both forces is to form a pact for stability and improvement in the governance of the municipality, to work and implement the necessary formulas that transform the current municipal situation, focusing on projects that allow progress and provide a better present and future for San Bartolomé de Tirajana,” stated Coalición Canaria on Tuesday to justify this alliance.
PP-AV and CC have also established the distribution of areas while finalizing the names of those who will be in charge of them. Marco Aurelio Pérez will serve as the mayor of San Bartolomé for four years. The Popular Party will oversee Human Resources, Roads and Infrastructure, Employment and Local Development, Culture, Emergencies, Parks and Gardens, Agriculture, and Sports.
The areas assigned to Coalición Canaria include Economy and Finance; Street Cleaning, Public Buildings, and Beach Cleaning; Urban Planning and Housing; Festivals and Events; Social Services; and Tourism.
Fourteen councilors, a majority of seven and seven, will govern the municipality starting from May 17, with PP and CC joining forces. Each party contributes seven councilors, eliminating the need for a third force to form a majority.
“The two parties are now working on a programmatic agreement that will allow them to define the objectives and the roadmap for the next four years,” CC added.
Marco Aurelio Pérez will regain the Mayorship of San Bartolomé, which was held by Conchi Narváez (PSOE) in the past four years. Marichal was actually part of the previous four-party coalition government, which ended in September 2021 with the expulsion of two nationalist councilors. Narváez sent Marichal and his colleague Pino Dolores Santana to the opposition due to alleged “disloyalty to the members of the government team.”
“The commitment of both forces is to provide stability and improvement in governance.”
Marco Aurelio Pérez, born in 1963 in the tourist municipality, holds a degree in Economic and Business Sciences and has been serving as an opposition councilor in the Cabildo de Gran Canaria with the PP for the past four years after resigning from the Town Hall.
Pérez won the most votes in the elections but not the most council seats, as his party lost one seat compared to the eight obtained in 2019. However, this time he secured the nationalist support to govern.
On the other hand, Alejandro Marichal made a significant impact in San Bartolomé de Tirajana as the only party to increase its representation, going from four to seven councilors and doubling the number of votes from 2,195 to 4,828, representing 23.79% of the share.
The other two parties that obtained representation had mixed results. Conchi Narváez’s PSOE lost one council seat, going from seven to six councilors with 4,045 votes, representing 19.93% of the share.
Meanwhile, Nueva Canarias increased its number of votes to 3,390, representing 16.70% of the share, and maintained the five council seats it held before.
The new government councilors within the Popular Party will consist of Marco Aurelio Pérez, Elena Álamo, Ramón Suárez, Yurena Tejera, Pino Delgado, Eduardo Armas, and José Carlos Álamo.
On the other hand, the elected councilors accompanying Alejandro Marichal for Coalición Canaria are Yilenia Vega, Alexis Moreno, Dimas Sarmiento, Davinia Ramírez, José Cardoso, and Lucía Jiménez.
