Torrevieja’s ruling coalition government team could find life a lot harder getting decisions through the council after its two Dream Torrevieja party representatives Alejandro Blanco and Pablo Samper quit. A Dream party meeting voted to go into opposition after a series of rows within the coalition over issues like sports school funding, and it now leaves the coalition in a precarious minority position.
A combination of Partido Popular and Ciudadanos representatives were able to combine recently to reject the government team’s 2016 budget by one vote, which led to the scrapping of plans to bring refuse collection under municipal control. The figures now put the coalition at just 10 votes with a combination of four Green councillors, four Socialists (PSOE), one APTCe and one IU (United Left) representative, up against the 15 councillors that can be mustered by the other parties.
Earlier this month, Torrevieja mayor Jose Manuel Dolon told Blanco and Samper to quit their portfolios within the government team, but they did not do so, despite missing a number of meetings. A Dream spokesperson told the Información newspaper that a variety of issues which ran counter to what they want to see happening in Torrevieja had caused them to pull out of the coalition. They added that would act in a “sensible and responsible way on behalf of Torrevieja citizens”.
