Murcia: a political farce with an unusual twist

The deputies expelled from Ciudadanos in the Murcian Parliament Isabel Franco and Francisco Álvarez, this Wednesday in Murcia.Marcial Guillén / EFE

A surprising initial outbreak, a convoluted knot of agreements, disagreements and continuous script twists and an unexpected outcome at the height of Chesterton's best satire: the political plot of the Region of Murcia has been complicated in this last month until giving rise to an unusual situation in Spanish parliamentarism: three defected politicians have taken control of the parliamentary group they betrayed.

First was the failed motion of censure presented by surprise by PSOE and Ciudadanos against the PP government in the regional Assembly.

Later, the pact reached by the Murcian president, the popular Fernando López Miras, with three defectors from the orange party and three wayward deputies expelled from Vox, to retain power, which he achieved.

And this Friday the last chapter will take place: the constitution of the board of spokesmen of the autonomous Parliament, with a government adviser who resigns to prop up his own party -or ex-party, Cs- and with members of the Executive in parliamentary commissions created to control to the Executive itself.

"In 20 years, what has happened in Murcia will be studied in the faculties of Political Sciences around the world", predicts Diego Conesa, regional secretary of the PSOE.

In a climate in which no government and opposition seem to have remained, but winners and losers, the outlook seems clear for López Miras and his partners during the second half of the legislature.

He attracted three Cs deputies —Isabel Franco, Valle Miguélez and Francisco Álvarez— to his ranks and offered advice to the three wayward from Vox —Francisco José Carrera, Juan José Liarte and Mabel Campuzano, who took charge of Education.

But, even so, the Murcian president appreciated fringes in his mandate.

And this Thursday he adjusted the last nut on his throne: Francisco Álvarez resigned from his position - recently obtained - as Minister of Employment, Research and Universities to become spokesman for the party from which he had been abruptly expelled: Citizens.

The Chamber's regulations - which do not oblige a deputy expelled by his party to leave the group - does declare the position of councilor and parliamentary spokesperson incompatible.

The Cs group held a vote and Álvarez was elected spokesperson with the support of the other two defected deputies, the rejection of the three who remain loyal to the party of Inés Arrimadas and the key abstention of a sixth: Alberto Castillo, who is also President of Parliament.

The main promoter of the failed motion of censure against the PP, Ana Martínez Vidal, regional coordinator of Cs, assures that Álvarez's convoluted move is “a perfectly coordinated maneuver to also take over the legislative power and deactivate the supervisory and control work of the Assembly ”.

In the formation presided over by Arrimadas in Madrid, they consider that Montesquieu and his separation of powers have been blown up.

"These turncoats", continues the Murcia deputy, "the last thing that worries them is the well-being of the citizens";

and underlines that they have done everything with the connivance of the President of the Assembly, Alberto Castillo, who is going to be "disapproved" by Cs, a formation to which he belongs, for allowing, with his abstention, "that a defector expelled from a party be the spokesperson for that party ”.

This newspaper tried this Thursday, in vain, to contact the former councilor.

With his spokesperson, Álvarez makes sure that none of the close-

knit

deputies

can control the special or investigative commissions of the regional Parliament.

He, Franco and Miguélez are part of all of them, including the one who will study the protocol followed by the Ministry of Health for vaccination against covid-19.

This is what is known in Murcia as

vaccinate

, in which hundreds of officials inoculated themselves with the vaccine without having to take turns (including the popular councilor for Health, Manuel Villegas, who had to resign).

"In the commissions to control the Executive there will be government advisers," criticizes the socialist leader, Diego Conesa.

"It is a democratic anomaly, something unsustainable."

For Conesa, the Murcian Assembly is "corrupted and invaded by turncoats."

Everything that happened gives off "a stench of corruption" that, in his opinion, "can only be cleaned with democratic bleach."

In other words, "or with resignations governed by coherence, dignity and political ethics" or with "the calling of new elections."

For the socialist, winner of the last regional elections, López Miras "has broken the democratic seams" thanks to "the internal quarrels of Ciudadanos, which have destroyed the party."

In the PP they simply point out that from tomorrow "the activity can be resumed" of the Assembly.

And they attribute everything that happened to "the actions of Citizens" with their initial motion.

The wayward from Vox say they have "intention to provide stability" and have restructured their participation in the commissions, including in them the only deputy who follows the orders of Santiago Abascal, Pascual Salvador.

Sources close to the defectors of Cs assure that "the Government has come out strengthened in its unity, around common objectives" and "above personalities and acronyms".

With the tectonic plates of Murcian politics turned into two apparently irreconcilable sides, the earthquake of these four weeks seems to have left a total distrust.

The river Segura is no longer the only scar that crosses the Region of Murcia.

• The motion of censure of PSOE and Citizens in Murcia fails

• Murcia City Council approves the motion of censure and dismisses the PP from the mayor's office

• A turncoat counselor from Murcia resigns to take control of Ciudadanos as parliamentary spokesman