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Maspalomas 24h | Newspaper of Maspalomas and Southern Gran Canaria
Political karma is on the rise in Maspalomas: The Canary Coalition is digesting the cost of the pact with its former detractors.

Political karma is on the rise in Maspalomas: The Canary Coalition is digesting the cost of the pact with its former detractors.

Gara Hernández - M24h Tuesday, June 30, 2026

In the volatile political landscape of San Bartolomé, alliances They are signed with the same coldness with which the Investment funds they share the hotel floorThe electoral machinery of Canary Coalition (CC) has begun to fine-tune its strategy for the next municipal elections in the main economic engine of the south of Gran Canariathrough a convergence agreement with First Canary Islands (Prica), the brand driven by the critical sector that organically broke with the traditional direction of New Canary IslandsThe move, designed to shield the nationalist flank from the dominant bloc, contains one of the most bitter paradoxes of local politics, forcing the traditional parties to coexist with the faction responsible for their previous ousting from power. Controlling the mayoralty of the Canary Islands' economic capital could be easy for CC without having to rely on Prica, and it's possible that each will go its own way and, if it works out, join forces. Within CC, there's one fear: being devoured by Prica if a cascading pact is applied across the entire island; that is, if CC in Tenerife forgets that the influence the nationalist party holds in southern Gran Canaria has been painstakingly built "without sectarianism" through the stability of current agreements with AV-PP.

 

For the mid-level members of the Canary Coalition, the group photo with the representatives of Primero Canarias has a bitter aftertaste. Political memory in the offices of Maspalomas It is long, and no one forgets the schism of the mandate of 2019When the councilors who now make up the ranks of Prica unilaterally broke off the governing pact, that maneuver was carried out behind the backs of and without the explicit mandate of the island councils of Las Palmas. This led to the expulsion of CC from the governing alliance it maintained with the PSOE and sent the nationalists directly to the opposition benches for four years.

 

The lace of Samuel Henriquez In the third position on the alternating list, Prica seeks to guarantee social peace within a sector of the local civil service, taxi drivers, and businesses where the municipalist platform retains specific electoral clienteles after its split from the historic Nueva Canarias party. The design of the shared candidacy dilutes Prica's influence from the fifth position onward, ensuring that Coalición Canaria retains absolute control of the municipal group and key management areas should it regain control of the tourist town hall. CC's grassroots members are watching with suspicion as the quota system grants a privileged position to those who fractured the discipline of the southern bloc, a move that will test Marichal's authority to maintain cohesion while digesting a pact dictated by the sheer necessity of power.

 

The future electoral list will be rigidly constrained by gender parity legislation, forcing a pure "zipper" design (man, woman, man or vice versa) that already defines starting positions in order to disrupt the balance of the Tirajana council. The current CC leader and key figure in the municipal government, Alejandro Marichal[Name omitted] will head the mayoral candidacy. The second spot is legally reserved for a woman, a profile expected to be provided by the CC ranks to consolidate the candidate's inner circle. The third spot will mark the return of Samuel Henríquez, the local leader of Primero Canarias, leaving the fourth spot for another female representative of the nationalist party in a mathematical alternation that will continue until the list is complete.

 

The urgency to consolidate a unified nationalist front is a direct response to the extreme fragmentation reflected in the latest local election results, where the mobilization of 20.501 voters (57,68% turnout compared to 42,31% abstention) resulted in a 25-member municipal council without clear hegemonies. The election results placed the PP-AV in the lead with 7 councilors and 5.363 votes (26,42%), tied with the Canarian Coalition, which burst onto the scene with another 7 councilors thanks to its 4.828 votes (23,79%). The PSOE fell to third place with 6 councilors and 4.045 votes (19,93%), while New Canaries (NC-FAC) held onto 5 seats and 3.390 votes (16,7%), leaving forces like Vox (4,18%) and Let's Talk Now (4,05%) out of the council. This scenario, with an absolute majority threshold of 13 councilors, forces blocs to seek mergers before the elections to guarantee the governability of Maspalomas.

 

The island leadership is now forced to bear the political cost of reintegrating the architects of that municipal coup in an exercise of pragmatism that many within the party openly describe as karmic retribution. The imperative to consolidate the Canarian nationalist movement in the south and prevent votes from being lost to conservative forces has outweighed past grievances, forcing Alejandro Marichal to coordinate his future team with the very people who destabilized his executive position in the past.

 

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