In Cuevas del Campo, it has been difficult for years for the fairgrounds, which include attractions entrepreneurs, churros and the music band, to be able or want to settle in the town every May 15, San Isidro Day.
If the boss's party falls in the middle of the week, neither the fair is profitable nor the sale of churros enough.
And you cannot count on the necessary musicians either because most of them study in the capital, at the university.
The solution for the fair to be minimally viable and the music to sound through the streets of the town has been to add to the religious celebration, which is held on May 15, a festive celebration on the nearest Saturday and Sunday.
But against all odds, extending the party is not as popular as expected.
There are happy people and others, says the mayor, “who don't like it, complain.”
And tired of complaints about something that did not seem to produce them, and since it is an important issue, Mayor Carmen Rocío Martínez Ródenas (PSOE) included it in her electoral program: referendum – popular consultation as it is legally called – and for the people to decide .
And before the year is up after the elections, he has fulfilled his promise.
On March 17, Cueveños are called to the ballot box—there is only one—for their own exercise of self-determination.
The church had the first word, however.
The bishop of Guadix, the mayor says, was the first to be asked back in 2016 about the change in format.
He said “yes, but…”.
The celebration of San Isidro day was unforgivable.
From there, the festive part could be carried over to the previous or subsequent weekend that was decided in the town.
And with the exception of the pandemic years, this has already been done three times, with the already mentioned annoyance of some and the joy of those who live abroad or are traveling.
In a month, the result of the consultation will say whether the extended version is maintained or the celebration of a single day is returned because, although the rule that regulates these events in Andalusia indicates that the voice of the people is not binding, the mayor is willing to meet the result.
What she is not sure about is predicting a result twenty days before the electoral campaign begins, which there is.
In reality, these processes are as regulated or almost as regulated as ordinary electoral processes.
The first requirement to hold a popular consultation is that it be approved by the Council of Ministers.
And that happened at their meeting on January 30.
The Andalusian Regional Government and the zone's Electoral Board were previously informed, in a process that began, says the mayor in November.
After the government approval, the city council closed the date and everything runs as legislated.
This Monday, February 19, explains Martínez Ródenas, the judicial members assigned by the zone Electoral Board will be known, who will act as verifiers, and the citizens who will make up the electoral table.
Ten days before the consultation, an electoral campaign will be carried out, which includes posters in the streets, in which the mayor will defend her position of expanding the party, something that she believes is supported by the youngest and those who are outside the town, against the no. of older people, “more inclined to maintain tradition,” he believes.
This newspaper has tried without success to know the version of the PP, the municipal opposition.
On Sunday, March 17, approximately 1,200 of those registered have the right to vote and will have to mark yes or no to the question “Do you want to change the patron saint festivities to the weekend closest to May 15?”
The mayor insists that it is not a trivial decision.
“If there is no place for the children to ride, there are no churros and there are no skewers, they complain about how badly the City Council does it, but for there to be all that it is necessary for the fairground vendors to find it profitable.”
And she adds: “What's the point of spending 6,000 euros on a music band if at two in the morning there's no one dancing, which is what would happen on a weekday?”
Whatever the electoral result, “on May 15 of each year, the mass and procession to the saint will continue to be celebrated, which is very important here,” the mayor concludes.
And the bishop has already determined it.
Forty years of questions, but without talking about money
The Cuevas del Campo consultation is not an isolated case.
According to official sources, since 1985, Spanish town councils have approached the government on 202 occasions to ask for its approval to consult their citizens, permission that has only been given on 74 occasions.
The rest, 128, have either not been authorized or the town councils, on some occasions, have given up on completing the process.
In 1985, the Local Regime Bases Law was approved, which regulates these popular consultations.
They require an absolute majority in the municipal plenary session and that it be authorized by the Government of the nation.
You cannot ask the population anything.
Only “those matters of municipal jurisdiction and of a local nature that are of special relevance to the interests of the residents, with the exception of those related to the local Treasury” can be submitted to popular consultation.
And all four conditions have to be met at the same time.
In short, whatever is intrinsically local, except matters of money and taxes.
Nor has Cuevas del Campo been the last consultation.
At this moment, the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory is processing one last request, that of the town council of Alfarb (Valencia) which has asked to open a consultation on which name of the town its inhabitants feel most identified with, Alfarp or Alfarb.
The patron saint holidays and their date changes are a
hit
when it comes to asking people, but there are many issues.
One of the first consultations of some substance took place in 1986, when they consulted—and said yes—about the dissolution of the municipality of Hiruerrieta (Guipuzcoa) into Icazteguieta, Orendain and Baliarrain.
That same year, in Carcaixent (Valencia) the change of the date of the major festivals was voted, the first of many consultations on this matter.
Local consultations have then been authorized on the location of the new Town Hall (Monforte de Lemos, Lugo, 1987), on whether or not to pedestrianize a road (Maracena, Granada, 1993), on the alteration of the name of the municipality (San Bartolomé , Las Palmas in 2005, or Teulada in Alicante in 2009), on the method of selective waste collection (in several towns in the Basque Country in 2015), on the renovation of the sports center bar (Ortigosa del Monte, Segovia, 2020), or about the union of Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena in Badajoz, in 2021.
On the contrary, the Government said no to consultations on the construction of a penitentiary center in Soto del Real (Madrid) in 1987, on whether the mayor should continue in his position or resign in Oria (Almería) in 2000, on the construction of a marina in Castro Urdiales (Cantabria) in 2010, the installation of surveillance cameras in the town hall of Oteiza (Navarra) in 2013, or whether or not the town of Las Navas de la Concepción leaves the Sierra Norte de Seville Natural Park .
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