PP and IU finalize a coalition with the support of Vox in the 'town of trouble' in Malaga

If there is a town in Malaga where the politically impossible can come true, without a doubt, that is Manilva.. Located on the Western Costa del Sol, close to Estepona and Marbella, this municipality, for example, has the dubious recognition that its last five mayors have been investigated or prosecuted. The last one, Mario Jiménez, currently sits on the bench for his alleged involvement in the granting of municipal contracts to the husband of the previous councilor, Antonia Muñoz, convicted of 749 cases of plugging. A circumstance that has not prevented Jiménez, and his party, Compromiso Manilva, from being the most voted option in the municipal elections of 28-M. Five councilors who, added to the three from the PSOE, intended to lead a next government team. Option that would be useless because, if nothing remedies it in the next few hours, PP and Izquierda Unida will present an alternative coalition that would achieve the investiture if they achieve the support of the only Vox mayor.

The results thrown by the polls drew a scenario with four parties even in councilors and votes and a multitude of possibilities for agreements where the absolute majority is only achievable through a tripartite. Commitment Manilva and PSOE, first and fourth force, with five and three councilors, respectively, were the first to make a move and last Friday they made public a Government agreement.

The announcement was surprising because both formations did not have an absolute majority, which is why it was seen as an attempt to force the IU to facilitate the investiture with the vote in favor of at least one of its four mayors.. Nothing could be further from the truth. People familiar with the peculiar political life of this town maintained that the left-wing coalition, which attended the municipal elections under the generic name of Con Andalucía, would “never” make Mario Jiménez mayor and they considered this possibility bizarre because “they maintain that Compromiso Manilva represents to corruption”.

The blockade to which the Consistory seemed committed has begun to unravel in the last hours with a hypothetical alliance that would generate quite a bit of surprise due to the ideological positions of its protagonists and that would turn the PP and Izquierda Unida into government partners. Sources from the different formations involved acknowledged to El Confidencial that, although “nothing is closed”, “there are conversations”; to then add that “they are very advanced”.

This would imply that the four representatives obtained by both parties would need external support or the formation of a tripartite with the only councilor obtained by Vox. A member of the IU provincial leadership, three days after the town halls were constituted, confessed that he did not know what his fellow students in Manilva were going to do. And he answered “that's what I would like to know”, when he was questioned about the meaning of his vote. The truth is that the elected councilors are slipping that they do not fear a possible expulsion from the party and are in favor of an agreement that would make their desire to remove Compromiso Manilva come true, despite the fact that this would imply that they could be considered defectors.

In this scenario, all the spotlights are on those of Santiago Abascal, with whom they are also negotiating. The key to the mayor's office is held by Antonio José Marín, to whom 302 votes have granted him a councilor's act, and who will have to amend part of his speech. In an interview published by Manilva WS, the then candidate stated that his party “will never give way to the left”. “We are not going to favor the entry of the left, either with our vote in favor, or with the abstention,” he reiterated.. This argument would imply refusing to make the popular José Manuel Fernández mayor for going hand in hand with the IU. But it is that the candidate of the green formation also assured that he would not agree with someone prosecuted or investigated, like the current councilor, because it is “a red line of Vox”. “Not even if they offered me to be part of the government team,” he insisted, to close the door on any alliance with the Manilva Commitment.

The different sources consulted remarked that the negotiations will continue in the next few hours. If the strange coalition were forged, which was repeated months ago in Casabermeja, it would mean a before and after in the municipality's politics because —if the parties involved in the possible coalition agreed so— it would be the first time that a PP leader would obtain the command rod. Well, the management of the town has been, for the most part, in the hands of independent parties and left-wing formations, and it seems remote that the popular and the Vox mayor would accept an IU councilor.

Manilva has been a town that has gained space in the national media due to its continued cases of corruption that have been splashing successive councilors. The accountant began in 2005 with the arrest of Pedro Tirado, a former member of the GIL who went on to lead the Democratic Party of Manilva.. The arrest occurred during the investigation of the White Whale operation.

A short time later, specifically in 2009, the investigation of the Manilva case began, which would be divided into three pieces. That of “hiring by hand” to create a network of clienteles that would perpetuate the United Left in power, already judged; another related to the awarding of contracts to companies belonging to the husband of Antonia Muñoz; and that of the transfers to the urban entity El Hacho, awaiting a ruling.

As a result of this latest investigation, the current councilor sat on the bench in the company of the person who held his commanding post when the events occurred, Antonia Muñoz, sentenced along with part of her team.. The Prosecutor's Office requested in its indictment four years in prison for Mario Jiménez, as well as eight for Muñoz.

During the investigation of the Manilva case, another investigation was initiated for an alleged electoral crime after a vote-buying was denounced in the 2011 municipal elections that led the mayor Paqui López to the bench, who at that time belonged to IU and later became a member of the part of Manilva Commitment.

And more recently, in February 2020, Antonia Muñoz was arrested during an investigation for money laundering through real estate investments.. Another 13 people were arrested during the operation..