Well - here they are:-
Listas presentadas elecciones municipales 2007:
1.- LEVANTE SOSTENIBLE DE MOJACAR (LEVANTE SOS. MOJACAR) 1 JOSE LUIS ARTERO GARCIA 2 JUAN ANTONIO GRIMA CERVANTES 3 ASTRID SCHRÖDER 4 CATALINA DEL ROSARIO GARCIA GONZALEZ 5 JORDI FERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ 6 MARIA ANGELES RIOSALIDO RAMOS 7 RAFAEL REYES CUADRADO 8 MARIA HERNANDEZ FLORES 9 IAN SUMMERS 10 MARIA ELENA SAINZ DE ROZAS PALACIO 11 MARIA JESUS GARCIA GONZALEZ 12 MARIANO LOPEZ RUBIO 13 MARIA DEL PILAR RIOSALIDO RAMOS SUPLENTES: 1 FERNANDO HINOJO PEREZ 2 ANA MARIA NORIEGA PINILLA 3 FRANCISCO QUESADA FLORES
2.- ASAMBLEA DE IZQUIERDAS (A.Iz) 1 CARLOS SALVADOR CERVANTES ZAMORA 2 SERAFIN ALARCON LOPEZ 3 FRANCISCO MONTOYA FLORES 4 VICTORIA VIRGINIA ANTON HERNANZ 5 PAULINA ANTONY 6 DOMINGO GABRIEL CARRIQUE BELMONTE 7 JUAN ANGEL MARTINEZ ALONSO 8 ROSARIO DUARTE ROMERO 9 FARZIN FARZAN NIA 10 MARIA ISABEL SANCHEZ REDONDO 11 PEDRO QUILES DOMINGUEZ 12 TOMAS CHAMORRO MUÑOZ 13 MARIA ISABEL CULEBRAS POZA
3.- CIUDADANOS EUROPEOS DE MOJACAR (C.E.M.) 1 ANGEL MEDINA CHULLA 2 LENOX SCOTT NAPIER 3 JENNY LOUISE HAYES 4 PAULA ESTEBAN DEL RIO 5 CARLOS SAN JULIAN BLANCO 6 ISABELLE NATHALIE VERONIQUE BES 7 DANIEL WILLIAN NAPIER 8 MAUREEN SYKES 9 ISABEL AZNAR FERNANDEZ 10 ALEJANDRO CUCKSON MARTINEZ 11 MARCELO JORGE SUAREZ-BRAVO NOVAS 12 BLANCA MARIA MORERA ORTIZ 13 ANGEL MIGUEL CIFRE LAPEYRE
4.- PARTIDO INDEPENDIENTE DE MOJACAR (P.I.MOJ.) 1 MAATI EL OUARDIGHI EL IMANI 2 MARIA ANGELES GUIRAL SANCHEZ 3 REBECCA LOUISSE GRAHAM 4 JUAN DIEGO CANO ARTERA 5 MARIA DOLORES HARO REYES 6 JAMES PETER MILLINGTOM SUCKLING 7 LINDA FRANCINE VAN GINDERACHTER DE RIJCH 8 ANTONIO JOSE GALLARDO SAEZ 9 ION VASILE DINU 10 ALBERTO SORO BELTRAN 11 IRENE SCURRAH 12 JOSE FERNANDEZ FERNANDEZ 13 SORAYA EL OUARDIGHI SAEZ SUPLENTES: 1 CRISTOBAL SANCHEZ LOPEZ 2 MARIA DEL MAR GARCIA MORILLA 3 JENIFER GIL BELTRAN
5.- PARTIDO POPULAR (P.P.) 1 ROSA MARIA CANO MONTOYA 2 DIEGO CARRILLO GONZALEZ 3 MARIA LUISA PEREZ LOPEZ 4 ALBERT WALDEMAR WERNER SCHRÖTER 5 ISABEL ROSA MONTOYA LOPEZ 6 SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ MARTIN 7 GONZALO MOSCARDO PEREA 8 ROSA MARIA MORALES GARCIA 9 ELENA STAN 10 DENNIS GEORGE MORDEN 11 LUIS VALERO GONZALEZ 12 VALENTINA MIR ALLES 13 ISABEL MARIA FERNANDEZ SANCHEZ SUPLENTES: 1 VICTOR LUIS HERRERA BLANCO
6.- PARTIDO ANDALUCISTA (P.A.) 1 DIEGO FRANCISCO GONZALEZ AGUADO 2 PEDRO MANUEL MONTOYA MORALES 3 EMMANUEL AGUERO LECLERC 4 FRANCISCA MORALES CERVANTES 5 ISABEL ZAMORA BARON 6 JOAQUIN FRANCISCO SAEZ SAEZ 7 FRANCISCO FLORES ALONSO 8 HAZEL KAY MCGRATH 9 SARAH MARIA SMITH 10 SALVADOR BECERRA GIL 11 RAUL GARRIDO SEGURA 12 MAGDALENA QUIÑONERO GAZQUEZ 13 MARIA DEL CARMEN PEREZ LLORIS SUPLENTES: 1 JUAN FRANCISCO LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ 2 RAFAELA MARIA FLORES MONTOYA
7.- PARTIDO DE ALMERIA (PdAL) 1 DIEGO GARCIA MONTOYA 2 JOSE MANUEL PADILLA VIZCAINO 3 LUIS GUILLERMO JIMENEZ JIMENEZ 4 JODIE FRANCES ESQUER 5 MARIA BELEN GARCIA LOPEZ 6 MATTHEW JAMES SHATFORD 7 JOHN MICHAEL AMPLEFORD 8 FRANCISCA CANO PARRA 9 DANIEL GONZALEZ LINNITT 10 ISABEL SAEZ CASTRO 11 LIVIU ARMIE 12 MARIA DEL MAR LOPEZ LOPEZ 13 PEDRO ZAMORA BARON SUPLENTES: 1 ANTONIO JESUS PEREZ CARRIQUE 2 MARIA JOSE GARRIDO VIZCAINO 3 URSULA CRISTINE HORCK
8.- PARTIDO SOCIALISTA OBRERO ESPAÑOL (PSOE) 1 PHILIPPE KIRSCH GOMEZ 2 FRANCISCO AGUSTIN MARTINEZ HARO 3 RYMA HUSSEIN EL AHMED 4 LEONARDA GOMEZ BONILLO 5 JUAN SANCHEZ RUIZ 6 JUAN FRANCISCO GALERA MORENO 7 ADELA MARIA FLORES ZAMORA 8 JORGE SIMON ORTIZ CARRILLO 9 ABEL ABARKAN ORTS 10 MARIA DE LOS REYES MEDINA FLORES 11 CARLOS PIÑERO FLORENCIO 12 ANTONIA MARQUEZ GALERA 13 JUAN JULIAN GULLON ALONSO SUPLENTES: 1 JUANA MARIA MARTINEZ HARO 2 ALFONSO ANTONIO VILLANOVA CARRERO 3 YOLANDA ANGELES PARRA RIDAO
9.- PARTIDO SOCIALISTA DE ANDALUCIA (PSA) 1 JUAN ALFONSO LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ (PSA) 2 PEDRO SUAREZ RUIZ (PSA) 3 MARIA LUISA DE LA FUENTE QUAGLIOTTI (PSA) 4 MARTIN ADAN CASTILLO (PSA) 5 SONIA SUAREZ TAMAYO (PSA) 6 ANTONIO CAMPOY PEREZ (PSA) 7 FERNANDO MARTINEZ GONZALEZ (PSA) 8 AURORA RUIZ MARTIN (PSA) 9 IGNACIO LOPEZ DE LA FUENTE (PSA) 10 MARIA LUISA LOPEZ MATHESSANZ (PSA) 11 JUAN JESUS JIMENEZ DE LA FUENTE (PSA) 12 GILDA RAWSON FERLUGA (PSA) 13 JOSE FRANCISCO NUÑEZ MARTOS (PSA) SUPLENTES: 1 ERNESTO OBRADOR IBAÑEZ (PSA)
10.- PARTIDO DEMOCRATICO DE MOJACAR (PDM DE MOJACAR) 1 GABRIEL FLORES MORALES 2 MARIA ASCENSION MORALES RAMOS 3 JOSE LUIS CANO RODRIGUEZ 4 GINES TORRES FLORES 5 SUSANNA EMILY HALL 6 MIGUEL GARCIA CAMPOY 7 JOSE MARIA RUIZ FLORES 8 VIOLETA RUEDA GUAREÑO 9 CONCEPCION LUGARDA GUILLEN TORRES 10 ESTEBAN ANTONIO DUARTE GONZALEZ 11 KEITH BRADLEY 12 SHIRLEY ANN ALMAN 13 YOLANDA PATRICIA PARRA NIEDERHAUSER SUPLENTES: 1 SALVADOR DOMINGO VIVES LOPICCOLO 2 LINLDSAY MCBRIDE 3 DIEGO QUERO GARCIA
11.- GRUPO INDEPENDIENTE POR ALMERIA (GIAL) 1 DIEGO GARCIA MONTOYA 2 ANGEL CORDOBA BLANCO 3 WIELAND CLEMENS ECKLER 4 JUANA CASTRO FLORES 5 CRISTINA SANDU 6 JAMES MARLIN BRYCE 7 SARA SIROLLI 8 FRANCISCO ALACID MELCHON 9 MARIA JOSEFA IBAÑEZ GARCIA 10 FRANCISCO JAVIER SERRANO FLORES 11 JORGE MANZANARES PINO 12 DAVID BELMONTE CORTIJO 13 CONCEPCION CARRASCO GUTIERREZ
12.- IZQUIERDA UNIDA LOS VERDES- CONVOCATORIA POR ANDALUCIA (IULV-CA) 1 FRANCISCO RUBIO SANCHEZ 2 JOSE LUIS LLORENTE PEREZ 3 ALEJANDRA LOPEZ SEVILLA 4 AINA KUCINSKIENE 5 JOHN GRAEME STEWART 6 MARIA DEL PILAR RAMOS MARTIN 7 INDALECIO RUEDA GARCIA 8 NICOLAS LUQUE VILLEGAS 9 EUSTAQUIO ARCOS MUÑOZ 10 MARIA IBARRA GALERA 11 AMPARO DIAZ RUBIO 12 SERGIO GARCIA PASTOR 13 JAVIER DE SAGARRA CHAO SUPLENTES: 1 ANTONIO JOSE VILLEGAS GIMENEZ 2 EVANGELINA MUÑOZ PERAL
13.- MOJACAR NUEVA (MN) 1 ENRIQUE JOAQUIN GARCIA MAURIÑO LORENTE 2 RUTH GREEN 3 JAVIER SORIA DIAZ 4 MARY ELLEN PATRICIA WESTON 5 ROWLAND STEPHEN BEECHENER 6 MARIA DEL CARMEN MALDONADO LOPEZ 7 DENISE JANE GROOM 8 DONALD WILLIAMS 9 EDMUND PATRICK MCCRORY 10 BARBARA JOAN BIRKS 11 JEAN PATRICIA BANNER 12 DAVID BRACE 13 EILEEN MCCRORY SUPLENTES: 1 MICHAEL FRED GROOM 2 MICHAEL WESTON
Thirteen parties - two choices. A modern and healthy European town, or another four years of anarchy.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
The parties are now ready for your support and your votes. In Mojácar, according to the Boletin Oficial de la Provincia, there are thirteen.
Remember, when looking at a party under these conditions, concentrate on the top names on each party's list. No one in Mojácar can be reasonably expected to make it into the government if his name is sloshing around the bottom. Such a person might garner a few votes for the party, but clearly they are just foot-soldiers there for the top names on the party list.
You can scroll down to an earlier post regarding the Mojácar parties.
I'll add here that Mojacar Nueva has the most foreigners (practically the whole list), but with two in the top four names. Most of the full list is mono-lingual in English.
Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar also has two foreigners in the top four (me and Jenny Hayes at numbers two and three), and four more later on...
Levante Sostenible has one (Astrid the Veterinaria at nº 3). The Partido Popular has Albert Werner at nº 4. The PAL has one at nº 4, and the GIAL has Wieland Eckler at nº 3.
Other parties have the odd foreigner at the waaay back, including PSA (one at 12) and the PA has two at 8 and 9. The PSOE has none at all.
Whether 'foreigners' - that is non-Spanish Europeans - are the way forward or not, it seems clear that a town hall with 135 workers in it where not one of them speaks English, in a town where half the population only speaks English, is certainly not the way forward. European candidates need to be bi-lingual and have a full understanding of Spanish issues, society and so on. I hope that can be said of all of our European candidates
Remember, when looking at a party under these conditions, concentrate on the top names on each party's list. No one in Mojácar can be reasonably expected to make it into the government if his name is sloshing around the bottom. Such a person might garner a few votes for the party, but clearly they are just foot-soldiers there for the top names on the party list.
You can scroll down to an earlier post regarding the Mojácar parties.
I'll add here that Mojacar Nueva has the most foreigners (practically the whole list), but with two in the top four names. Most of the full list is mono-lingual in English.
Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar also has two foreigners in the top four (me and Jenny Hayes at numbers two and three), and four more later on...
Levante Sostenible has one (Astrid the Veterinaria at nº 3). The Partido Popular has Albert Werner at nº 4. The PAL has one at nº 4, and the GIAL has Wieland Eckler at nº 3.
Other parties have the odd foreigner at the waaay back, including PSA (one at 12) and the PA has two at 8 and 9. The PSOE has none at all.
Whether 'foreigners' - that is non-Spanish Europeans - are the way forward or not, it seems clear that a town hall with 135 workers in it where not one of them speaks English, in a town where half the population only speaks English, is certainly not the way forward. European candidates need to be bi-lingual and have a full understanding of Spanish issues, society and so on. I hope that can be said of all of our European candidates
House Sales Plummit
The construction companies on the Spanish stock market are in free-fall after the penny dropped recently about the lack of sales in Spain.
Locally, one can point to ‘land grabs’, ‘condemned houses’, ‘off-plan homes’, greedy commissions (up to 50% in some cases – you will have seen their brightly decorated cars), unfinished homes, mortgaged homes and other frauds. Sales to foreigners being one area where we have seen a fall over this time last year.
Sales to British buyers across Spain, incidentaly, have been running at around 70,000 per year.
The larger picture is, of course, the extreme increase in house prices nationally, with an average annual increase of around 20% - which has now been proven unsustainable in the long run.
The first construction company to ‘wipe a billion euros’ off its books in one day, on Monday this week, was the Valencian constructor Astroc. Others immediately followed suit.
According to a recent report, the building companies are hocked to the banks for 250,000 million euros (December 2006) – which is the equivalent to 25% of the PIB (GNP). Some 30% more homes are being built that are being bought, according to ‘Ahorro Financial Corporation’, putting at immediate risk some 200,000 jobs.
Locally to the Baja Almanzora, it will be interesting to see which Estate Agents are here for the long picture - 'in good times and bad' - and which were just after some fast money.
Locally, one can point to ‘land grabs’, ‘condemned houses’, ‘off-plan homes’, greedy commissions (up to 50% in some cases – you will have seen their brightly decorated cars), unfinished homes, mortgaged homes and other frauds. Sales to foreigners being one area where we have seen a fall over this time last year.
Sales to British buyers across Spain, incidentaly, have been running at around 70,000 per year.
The larger picture is, of course, the extreme increase in house prices nationally, with an average annual increase of around 20% - which has now been proven unsustainable in the long run.
The first construction company to ‘wipe a billion euros’ off its books in one day, on Monday this week, was the Valencian constructor Astroc. Others immediately followed suit.
According to a recent report, the building companies are hocked to the banks for 250,000 million euros (December 2006) – which is the equivalent to 25% of the PIB (GNP). Some 30% more homes are being built that are being bought, according to ‘Ahorro Financial Corporation’, putting at immediate risk some 200,000 jobs.
Locally to the Baja Almanzora, it will be interesting to see which Estate Agents are here for the long picture - 'in good times and bad' - and which were just after some fast money.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
What's the Hurry, Henry?
(From The New Entertainer, June Edition 2004)
I was walking down the street the other day, minding my own business, when (out of an orange coloured sky) a car hooted behind me which practically gave me a heart attack. What's the hurry?
It's not like there's any room on the pavement for me to walk which is why I understandably choose the street. The pavement is full of trees, cracks, holes, dust-bins, ONCE stands, chairs and tables, parked motorcycles, telegraph poles, telephone booths, low flying shop awnings (duck, or lose an eye), an old iron bench, a half-filled skip, prams and trolleys, visitors from the north (who evidently don't know the rules), shop signs, accordion players, traffic directions and postcard stands. Many motorists have parked at least two wheels on the pavement, which varies arbitrarily from several metres wide to the width of a hand. Some flagstones and cornerstones are missing. A dusty square hole suggests a departed tree.
A pavement, in Spain, is rather like the tile skirting in a room: it's there strictly for show.
So there I was, walking down the street, dodging the pedestrians, cars, motorbikes and ice-cream carts when this car honked behind me! Not that I took any notice.
The cars are double-parked down the High Street, the Calle Mayor, some with their emergency lights on giving the impression that the drivers will soon return. A bus disgorges passengers from the middle of the street while the traffic waits with more or less patience behind. A motorbike with several passengers takes to the pavement. Its exhaust pipe appears to be missing.
In front of the bank, work-men are inexplicably painting a new zebra crossing. They will just do half the street (protected by red cones) this morning and perhaps they will return tomorrow to do the rest. Perhaps not. There's a zebra crossing on the other street which was never finished, as if the diligent street-crossing pedestrian will be obliged to give up his object in mid-flow, or perhaps he'll pass obligingly through into another dimension. Like most of the people in the scene, I am only faintly interested in what the painted white stripes are for: a decoration...? a service...? Do children try just to walk on the stripes for good luck?
In Almería city, the town hall has painted them in attractive red and white bands. The opposition councillors are complaining: they should just be in white. Preferably a white that fades after a few weeks...
A family of gypsies is standing on the pavement now, just opposite a zebra crossing. Are they thinking of using it, or is it just a comfortable place to stand. The traffic hesitates slightly in doubt. But no, it's just a variation of the companionable group standing on a street corner, chatting away agreeably while, inadvertently, breaking the flow. Who's in a hurry anyway?
Seduced by the white lines, a visitor lurches into the street. Streets are indeed for crossing, nobody disputes this, but the white lines are not there to make you forget to look at the oncoming traffic, or to forgo waving a rolled up newspaper at it. A car pulls to a halt as the visitor heads blindly across the street towards the souvenir shop: the car behind swerves and accelerates past the first one, narrowly missing the opportunity to make the 'sucesos' page of the provincial daily. The nearby municipal policeman, shocked into inaction, decides it is time to go and have a quiet nip in the English bar. Perhaps he won't have to pay.
I am sat at a nearby table under a spreading tree, trying to ignore a panhandling dog who somehow thinks I might share my tapa with him. Buggeroff I tell him, flapping my paper in his direction. Shame tuts an oily Englishwoman at a sunny table nearby. The dog edges hopefully towards her. It growls at an approaching street vendor clutching several miracle spanner kits and a fishing rod. Looky looky, he mumbles disconsolately at the Englishwoman as the dog edges him off.
I get up to pay, to find that someone has picked up the bill already. The bank manager... the cop... or, surely not the barman? He's an Atletí supporter.
A wave of horns echoes down the street as the double parked cars take their inevitable and regular toll. It's a perfect moment to amble across to the shade and check out the blind man's lottery results. Money back or try again! A bicycle has been chained to the bench in front, slowing the pedestrian traffic down still further. I'm not too judgmental about this, seeing as the bike is mine. I release it from the bench and we slowly walk along the street towards the port and the prospect of a fish lunch. I'm not in a hurry.
I was walking down the street the other day, minding my own business, when (out of an orange coloured sky) a car hooted behind me which practically gave me a heart attack. What's the hurry?
It's not like there's any room on the pavement for me to walk which is why I understandably choose the street. The pavement is full of trees, cracks, holes, dust-bins, ONCE stands, chairs and tables, parked motorcycles, telegraph poles, telephone booths, low flying shop awnings (duck, or lose an eye), an old iron bench, a half-filled skip, prams and trolleys, visitors from the north (who evidently don't know the rules), shop signs, accordion players, traffic directions and postcard stands. Many motorists have parked at least two wheels on the pavement, which varies arbitrarily from several metres wide to the width of a hand. Some flagstones and cornerstones are missing. A dusty square hole suggests a departed tree.
A pavement, in Spain, is rather like the tile skirting in a room: it's there strictly for show.
So there I was, walking down the street, dodging the pedestrians, cars, motorbikes and ice-cream carts when this car honked behind me! Not that I took any notice.
The cars are double-parked down the High Street, the Calle Mayor, some with their emergency lights on giving the impression that the drivers will soon return. A bus disgorges passengers from the middle of the street while the traffic waits with more or less patience behind. A motorbike with several passengers takes to the pavement. Its exhaust pipe appears to be missing.
In front of the bank, work-men are inexplicably painting a new zebra crossing. They will just do half the street (protected by red cones) this morning and perhaps they will return tomorrow to do the rest. Perhaps not. There's a zebra crossing on the other street which was never finished, as if the diligent street-crossing pedestrian will be obliged to give up his object in mid-flow, or perhaps he'll pass obligingly through into another dimension. Like most of the people in the scene, I am only faintly interested in what the painted white stripes are for: a decoration...? a service...? Do children try just to walk on the stripes for good luck?
In Almería city, the town hall has painted them in attractive red and white bands. The opposition councillors are complaining: they should just be in white. Preferably a white that fades after a few weeks...
A family of gypsies is standing on the pavement now, just opposite a zebra crossing. Are they thinking of using it, or is it just a comfortable place to stand. The traffic hesitates slightly in doubt. But no, it's just a variation of the companionable group standing on a street corner, chatting away agreeably while, inadvertently, breaking the flow. Who's in a hurry anyway?
Seduced by the white lines, a visitor lurches into the street. Streets are indeed for crossing, nobody disputes this, but the white lines are not there to make you forget to look at the oncoming traffic, or to forgo waving a rolled up newspaper at it. A car pulls to a halt as the visitor heads blindly across the street towards the souvenir shop: the car behind swerves and accelerates past the first one, narrowly missing the opportunity to make the 'sucesos' page of the provincial daily. The nearby municipal policeman, shocked into inaction, decides it is time to go and have a quiet nip in the English bar. Perhaps he won't have to pay.
I am sat at a nearby table under a spreading tree, trying to ignore a panhandling dog who somehow thinks I might share my tapa with him. Buggeroff I tell him, flapping my paper in his direction. Shame tuts an oily Englishwoman at a sunny table nearby. The dog edges hopefully towards her. It growls at an approaching street vendor clutching several miracle spanner kits and a fishing rod. Looky looky, he mumbles disconsolately at the Englishwoman as the dog edges him off.
I get up to pay, to find that someone has picked up the bill already. The bank manager... the cop... or, surely not the barman? He's an Atletí supporter.
A wave of horns echoes down the street as the double parked cars take their inevitable and regular toll. It's a perfect moment to amble across to the shade and check out the blind man's lottery results. Money back or try again! A bicycle has been chained to the bench in front, slowing the pedestrian traffic down still further. I'm not too judgmental about this, seeing as the bike is mine. I release it from the bench and we slowly walk along the street towards the port and the prospect of a fish lunch. I'm not in a hurry.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Feng Shui at Astrid's House in Mojácar
Sevillana (Endesa) has been busy the last few days erecting pylons across the rambla from Mojácar. The mayor, D. Gabriel Flores, together with his team of buffoons, appears to have done nothing about this situation.
Wake up! Wake up!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
A couple of Parties Selected from Wikipedia
There are now 3,099 political parties in Spain, with 30 new parties being registered every day last month. This means there is now one for every 10,000 inhabitants.
Here's a couple of them (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).
Citizens for Blank Votes (Ciudadanos En Blanco) is a Spanish political party.
In Spanish electoral law, a distinction is made between valid votes, blank votes (votos en blanco) and null votes. Blank votes are interpreted as correctly executed votes for "none of the above", and consistently about 2% of votes are blank. Voting "blank" is not the same thing as abstaining, and so it has been argued that blank votes should be recognized as legitimate by apportioning empty seats in representative bodies according to the number of blank votes. Abstainers, the argument continues, exclude themselves from the democratic process and so need not be recognized in this way.The platform of Ciudadanos En Blanco is that, if elected, their candidates will leave their seats vacant, until such time as the Spanish electoral law is reformed to recognize blank votes in the manner described above. At that point, the party will have no more reason to exist.
The Overwhelmed and Annoyed Citizens (Ciudadanos Agobiados y Cabreados) is an extraparliamentary Spanish political party.
They are principally annoyed at the justice system in Spain.
Not to mention overwhelmed.
Here's a couple of them (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).
Citizens for Blank Votes (Ciudadanos En Blanco) is a Spanish political party.
In Spanish electoral law, a distinction is made between valid votes, blank votes (votos en blanco) and null votes. Blank votes are interpreted as correctly executed votes for "none of the above", and consistently about 2% of votes are blank. Voting "blank" is not the same thing as abstaining, and so it has been argued that blank votes should be recognized as legitimate by apportioning empty seats in representative bodies according to the number of blank votes. Abstainers, the argument continues, exclude themselves from the democratic process and so need not be recognized in this way.The platform of Ciudadanos En Blanco is that, if elected, their candidates will leave their seats vacant, until such time as the Spanish electoral law is reformed to recognize blank votes in the manner described above. At that point, the party will have no more reason to exist.
The Overwhelmed and Annoyed Citizens (Ciudadanos Agobiados y Cabreados) is an extraparliamentary Spanish political party.
They are principally annoyed at the justice system in Spain.
Not to mention overwhelmed.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Vera becomes a City
José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the president of Spain, has recently bought a bungalow on Vera Playa for a modest 440,000 euros. Actually, it’s not very big, at 120 square metres, and it used to belong to an Englishman who no doubt took a tidy profit. The problem (according to Interviú – a racy Spanish magazine) is that Vera is planning the largest re-zoning of territory in Spain, with an estimated 400,000 new neighbours to lean over the wall of Zapatero’s pad to ask if they can borrow a cup of sugar.
The magazine estimates the profits for the builders of the Vera urbis of 115,000 homes, countless hotels and golf courses, at around 8,000 million euros. To do this, Vera needs to become a special ‘zona estratégica’ to ignore the strict new building rules being brought in by the Junta de Andalucía. The magazine reckons that if the plans put forward by the eight surrounding town halls were to be approved, then the Baja Almanzora would be, in a few years, the largest urban concentration in Spain – larger in area than Madrid.
Of course, there’s not enough roads, water, electric and – if we keep on putting up basketball courts – then beaches as well.
It’s the politicians to get to make these decisions, sometimes with a little help. One builder taken away recently by judge Baltazar Garzón's tax police, had this written in his computer: ‘if we get what we want, we shall pay XX 35 million and a further 15 million for the party’. Pesetas, perhaps.
The dry ramblas – river-beds – are filling with houses and shopping malls. Flooding is inevitable. You want green space? How about the space inside the roundabouts? That’s green (according to the Vera town hall planners).
Unlike 94% of the entire municipality of Vera – to be under brick and mortar.
The magazine estimates the profits for the builders of the Vera urbis of 115,000 homes, countless hotels and golf courses, at around 8,000 million euros. To do this, Vera needs to become a special ‘zona estratégica’ to ignore the strict new building rules being brought in by the Junta de Andalucía. The magazine reckons that if the plans put forward by the eight surrounding town halls were to be approved, then the Baja Almanzora would be, in a few years, the largest urban concentration in Spain – larger in area than Madrid.
Of course, there’s not enough roads, water, electric and – if we keep on putting up basketball courts – then beaches as well.
It’s the politicians to get to make these decisions, sometimes with a little help. One builder taken away recently by judge Baltazar Garzón's tax police, had this written in his computer: ‘if we get what we want, we shall pay XX 35 million and a further 15 million for the party’. Pesetas, perhaps.
The dry ramblas – river-beds – are filling with houses and shopping malls. Flooding is inevitable. You want green space? How about the space inside the roundabouts? That’s green (according to the Vera town hall planners).
Unlike 94% of the entire municipality of Vera – to be under brick and mortar.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Record Books
Ah - Mojácar. Always different.
The politics here are different as well.
Take the 2003 elections. Out of an electorate of 2500 voters, we had nine parties to choose between. Thirteen seats and nine different parties. It could only end in tears.
And so it proved. Currently, at the dog end of the legislature... and four years down the line... we have ended up with just six councillors in the ayuntamiento of which - lemme see - all six of them are considered 'transfugas' or 'deserters' by their respective ex-parties. Yep, we have an entire government representing precisely nobody.
But wait, there's more.
I'm working in a political group which will hopefully bring in the forasteros and extranjeros into local politics. It's called Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar. See the website. Now, together with the CEM, these are the following groups and parties.
CEM Angel Medina and me as 'number two'.
PP with Rosmari Cano
GIAL Diego García
Partido Andalucista with Diego Marullo
PSOE briefly with Beatriz Gomez - now to be led by Beatriz' son Felipe
Asamblea de Izquierdas with Carlos Cervantes
Partido Democratico de Mojácar (a catch-all party of transfugas)
Partido Independiente de Mojácar with Maati (town hall weenie)
Partido Socialista de Andalucía (Pedro Suarez from the swimming pool shop)
Mojácar Nueva with Enrique the Eccentric
Partido de Almería with Diego the Petrol Station.
Izquierda Unida with Patxi Rubio.
Partido del Levante Sostenible (comes from Levante sin Cables) with José Luis Artero (the non-aligned councillor who famously brought down the Carlos Cervantes government two years ago) .
The politics here are different as well.
Take the 2003 elections. Out of an electorate of 2500 voters, we had nine parties to choose between. Thirteen seats and nine different parties. It could only end in tears.
And so it proved. Currently, at the dog end of the legislature... and four years down the line... we have ended up with just six councillors in the ayuntamiento of which - lemme see - all six of them are considered 'transfugas' or 'deserters' by their respective ex-parties. Yep, we have an entire government representing precisely nobody.
But wait, there's more.
I'm working in a political group which will hopefully bring in the forasteros and extranjeros into local politics. It's called Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar. See the website. Now, together with the CEM, these are the following groups and parties.
CEM Angel Medina and me as 'number two'.
PP with Rosmari Cano
GIAL Diego García
Partido Andalucista with Diego Marullo
PSOE briefly with Beatriz Gomez - now to be led by Beatriz' son Felipe
Asamblea de Izquierdas with Carlos Cervantes
Partido Democratico de Mojácar (a catch-all party of transfugas)
Partido Independiente de Mojácar with Maati (town hall weenie)
Partido Socialista de Andalucía (Pedro Suarez from the swimming pool shop)
Mojácar Nueva with Enrique the Eccentric
Partido de Almería with Diego the Petrol Station.
Izquierda Unida with Patxi Rubio.
Partido del Levante Sostenible (comes from Levante sin Cables) with José Luis Artero (the non-aligned councillor who famously brought down the Carlos Cervantes government two years ago) .
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