The PSOE loses the Badajoz City Council of Don Benito and the merger with Villanueva de la Serena vanishes

With an atmosphere of enormous tension and a strong police presence in the Plenary Hall, María Fernanda Sánchez (Always Don Benito, with seven councilors), contrary to the municipal merger with Villanueva de la Serena, has assumed this Saturday the command rod of the Mayor's Office, thanks to the agreement reached on the horn with the Popular Party (five councilors), and in this way they have evicted the socialist José Luis Quintana, who had lost the absolute majority on 28-M, going from 14 to nine councilors. Always Don Benito and PP have agreed to divide the Mayor's Office for two years each, the last of the legislature being for the popular. In addition, they have agreed that the referendum on the merger will be repeated in three years.

It should be noted that the new mayoress has been elected with six votes from the Siempre Don Benito formation, since although she achieved seven councilors in the 28-M elections, there is one of them who has not taken office this Saturday.

With this change in the Mayor's Office of Don Benito, the possibility of the merger that the socialist mayors of this city and that of Villanueva had agreed to in the previous legislature is removed (here Miguel Ángel Gallardo has maintained the absolute one), setting it for 2027 after a controversial process.

The Imperial Theater of Don Benito, where the Extraordinary Plenary session was held, has been filled with people in favor of the merger and against it and there have been moments of great tension. In fact, on several occasions, the representatives of the Mesa de Edad have been forced to ask the public to remain silent after hearing shouts of 'pucherazo' and in favor of the merger. María Fernanda Sánchez has assured that they do not deny the merger “if the majority of the citizens want it”, but what they reject outright is that “in order to achieve it, the established procedures are not complied with”. Regarding the referendum, he stated that the results were “not at all clear” and that, due to democratic hygiene, “they should be investigated,” he stressed.

After taking the baton, the new mayoress has assured that they still have to “continue negotiating” with the PP because there are “many things pending.”

However, he has assured that “it is clear that we are going to form a consolidated group to give stability to the City Council and to govern rigorously and seriously and above all with stability” in Don Benito, in which Siempre Don Benito and PP will share the councilors

María Fernanda Sánchez has advanced that in the next few days they will reveal all the terms of the agreement between Siempre Don Benito and PP, in which “it has all been at the last minute”.

In this sense, he has stressed that “people demand it” with transparency and with “a percentage according to the city of Don Benito”, and that, in his opinion, it will be “advisable to calm down that tense society” that exists in the locality at the moment, that “some people and some interested parties have tensed it”.

Faced with this situation, Sánchez has called “for calm to all citizens”, as well as “to work and collaborate” with the aim of “improving Don Benito”, which is the objective of Siempre Don Benito, he said.

In addition, the new mayoress has highlighted that this Saturday “the desire of the people of Don Benito to change the government and political party in the city council has finally come true”, for which she has assessed that “the polls have been heard”

New name query

Pedro Noblejas, PP candidate, has advocated carrying out the merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena “in another way, and for the good of the citizens”, after which he has reiterated that the PP “is in favor of the union” , but he doesn't “like how things have been done, they haven't been done well”.

“Look if they have not been done well, that one part of the population is facing the other”, highlighted the local PP spokesman, who has advocated “correcting what has been done wrong”, as well as “explaining to the citizens each of the points and commas that the union agreement has”.

The former mayor of Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena, José Luis Quintana and Miguel Ángel Gallardo, respectively, accused yesterday the president of the PP of Extremadura, María Guardiola, of “sabotaging” the merger between the two cities.

In a joint statement, both socialist leaders reproached the regional leader of the popular for having “buried the harmony” between the two cities and blamed her for taking Don Benito to “a dead end”, increasing the “tension between neighbors to the limits”. that, they affirm, they still do not reach “to calibrate”.

Caceres and Badajoz

For their part, there were no surprises in the mayoralties of Cáceres and Badajoz. The new mayor of Cáceres, Rafael Mateos, from the PP, has rejected an agreement with Vox and will govern the City Council alone for being the list with the most votes, for which he has expressed the intention of “seeking meeting points” to improve the lives of the people of Cáceres because “Cáceres must occupy the space that corresponds to it, stick out its chest and always look ahead”. Mateos has been helped by the support of his 11 councilors to get the baton.

In Badajoz, Ignacio Gragera (PP) will repeat as mayor of Badajoz thanks to his absolute majority, although in the last legislature he did so as a Ciudadanos candidate by reaching a pact with the Popular Party for alternation in the mayoralty.