The political landscape of southeastern Gran Canaria is facing a major upheaval just a year before the local elections. The PSOE, Nueva Canarias (NC), Fortaleza, and the People's Party (PP) are finalizing details to register a motion of no confidence in Santa Lucía de Tirajana, a move designed as a "salvation pact" in the face of the current municipal government's weakness. The operation, which would hand the mayoralty to the Socialists, represents a death blow for Primero Canarias (Prica), which would lose its fifth stronghold on the island following the recent split within the nationalist party. The room for maneuver for Prica's strongman in southern Gran Canaria, Samuel Herníquez, is very limited.
"If this isn't done, we have to go to the Government Delegation in Las Palmas and hand over the keys to the City Hall, as already happened in Marbella at the time due to local ungovernability," a local PSOE leader told Maspalomas24H this Thursday.
The agreement was forged between Carmelo Ramírez (NC) and Santiago Rodríguez (Fortaleza, CC), who prioritized the need to "boost the stability of the municipality" in the face of Francisco García's administration. The current mayor, who governs with an unsustainable minority after dismissing the councilors aligned with NC just weeks ago, has seen the opposition quickly organize to achieve an absolute majority of 13 votes: the combined total of PSOE (5), Fortaleza (5), and NC (3), reinforced by the strategic support of the two PP councilors.
For the PSOE, this move represents a return to power in one of the most populated municipalities in the south, although the party has yet to confirm who will lead the new government given the possible resignation of one of its councilors for personal reasons. Conversely, the outcome of this crisis exacerbates the isolation of Prica, the project led by García along with the mayors of Agüimes and Gáldar, which, following the votes of no confidence in Agaete, Guía, Valsequillo, and San Mateo, is seeing its territorial influence crumble in a steady trickle of institutional power.
The pact comes amid a realignment of forces on the center-right, just hours after Coalición Canaria, Fortaleza's partner, integrated Unidos por Gran Canaria with an eye toward the 2027 elections. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucía, the new governing bloc will send the six Prica councilors, along with representatives from Vox and Unidos, into opposition, in what they describe as an emergency measure to unblock the management of a municipality that is key to the island's economy.
