Spain election maps

[Niemeyerite]

CIS has always been a bipartisan hack . But this poll was taken before the "recortes" that are killing the economy... So, I'd say UPyD is being underestimated and PP (but also PSOE) way overstimated.

And the map is wonderful, I knew I'd see a lot of 'red' there, but I'm glad to see 'green' too I have cousins living in Sant Pere de Ribes. They vote PSC or CiU, depending on the situation. I guess they voted PSC that time, they usually vote for the winner.

[Velasco]

Municipal elections, May 2003:



PSC: 34.6% and 229 mayoralties. The Catalan socialists still mantained their predominance in the most populated cities of Catalonia. In Barcelona PSC got 34.2% of the vote and 15 councillors. Joan Clos was re-elected mayor and lead a "tripartite" PSC-ERC-ICV local goverment. In the rest of Catalonia PSC won in Girona, Lleida, Reus, Tortosa and Manresa. In the Metropolitan Region PSC gained the towns of Rubí and Molins de Rei to ICV and Vilanova i La Geltrú to CiU. In Vilafranca del Penedès won a PSC-ICV list.

CiU: 24.8% and 522 mayoralties. The nationalists got 21.8% of the vote and 9 councillors in the city of Barcelona. The most important city in CiU hands was still Tarragona. In the Metropolitan Region they mantained Sant Cugat del Vallès but lost several mayoralties to PSC and ERC.

ERC: 13% and 116 mayoralties. In Barcelona the list lead by Jordi Portabella got 13% of the vote and 5 councillors. The spectacular increase of the Republican Left of catalonia was the prelude of its great success in the 2003 Catalonian election. In the Metropolitan Region they won in several municipalities of the Vallès Oriental and Maresme comarques like Lliçà d'Amunt, Llinars del Vallès or Calella. ERC also won the mayoralties of Valls and Puigcerdà.

PP: 11.3% and 9 mayoralties. People's Party got 16.4% and 7 councillors in Barcelona. In the Metro area they won in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (Maresme) and the little Pontons (Alt Penedès), just like in 1999.

ICV-EUiA: 10.5% and 20 mayoralties. The candidate in Barcelona was Inma Mayol and the list got 12.3% of the vote and 5 councillors. ICV retained El Prat and Sant Feliu in the Baix Llobregat but, while the trend was favourable in Barcelona and in rural areas, in the 'red belt' PSC was progressively gaining ground. In several municipalities EUiA ran separated lists.

[Velasco]

2003 election:

Jordi Pujol left politics and was replaced by Artur Mas. PSC repeated with Maragall. Approximately the same geographical distribution, although with lower vote percentages than in the previous election. PSC got 31.2% and 42 deputies; CiU 30.9% and 46 seats.



2003 and 2004 were the Carod-Rovira moment. The left-wing independentist ERC achieved its best results in the recent History. With 16.5% of the vote and 23 seats ERC had the key in the new parliament. Finally they decided to form a left-wing "tripartite" with PSC and ICV-EUiA. By that moment ERC hoped to replace CiU as the main nationalist force in Catalonia. PP placed Josep Piqué. former minister for foreign affairs and a soft catalanist, previously related with CiU, in an attempt to moderate the anti-catalanist image of PP in certain sectors of the society. The party improved its previous record: 11.9% and 15 seats. The best PP result was in 1995 with Aleix Vidal-Quadras, more controversial than the moderate Piqué. Finally ICV and EUiA reached a coalition agreement, with Gaspar Llamazares as IU national coordinator. They were still separate parties and EUiA remained as the IU reference in Catalonia. The coalition achieved 7.3% and 9 seats and became the minor partner of the tripartite.

[Velasco]

Euskadi 2005:

The coalition between the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna, EA) won 29 seats (38.7%). The Socialist Party of Euskadi (PSE-EE) 18 seats (22.7% of the vote). People's Party 15 seats (17.4%). The Communist Party of the Basque Homelands (EHAK-PCTV), that was a puppet of the banned Batasuna, 9 seats (12.4%). United Left (Ezker Batua-Berdeak, EB-B) 3 seats (5.4%). Aralar 1 seat (2.2%).

Juan José Ibarretxe (PNV) was re-elected lehendakari.



Euskadi 2009:

EHAK was banned in 2008 and the new left abertzale banner (D3M, Three Million Democracy) wasn't allowed to take part in the election. PNV and EA broke the coalition. In the 2008 General Election PSOE achieved a historic victory in Euskadi.

PNV won the election with 38.6% of the vote and 30 seats. PSE-EE got 30.7% of the vote and 25 seats. PP got 14.1% and 13 seats. Aralar 6% and 4 seats. EA 3.7% and 1 seat. EB-B 3.5% and 1 seat. UPyD 2.1% and 1 seat.

Invalid votes were 8.8%, around 100000 votes. Between 95 and 96 thousands were D3M ballots according with Pérez Rubalcaba, then Minister of Interior, and other sources.

The ban of Batasuna allowed a non-nationalist majority in the basque Parliament for the first time. Patxi López (PSE-EE) was elected lehendakari with the confidence and supply of PP.

[Niemeyerite]

Beautiful.

[Zanas]

Do you have maps of Andalucia elections ?

[Velasco]

No, by the moment I haven't done. Look for the Andalusia 2012 thread, someone posted a map of that election. Also, there is another thread (I think that the link is in "special threads") around here where I found maps of some general election in Andalusia.

[Velasco]

Catalonia 2006:

[Velasco]

Barcelona Metropolitan Region, 2007 Municipal Elections:

[Niemeyerite]

Beautiful.

[Velasco]

Catalonia 2010:



In 2006 CiU won a plurality of seats and the popular vote, but the nationalists received less votes than in 2003 due to the low turnout. In 2010 Artur Mas achieved a great victory, while the Tripartite suffered an epic downfall. CiU got 38.4% of the vote (+6.9%) and 62 seats (+16).

Pasqual Maragall resigned in 2006 and was replaced by José Montilla, born in Andalusia, former mayor of Cornellà and Minister of Industry between 2004 and 2006. PSC dropped in the 2006 election, especially in the metropolitan Barcelona, but the 2010 election was disastrous: 18.4% of the vote (-8.4%) and 28 seats (-14).

In the 2006 Election PSC managed to win in 3 comarcas: Barcelonès, Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat. In the two first the margin was very narrow (Barcelonès: PSC 27.54%; CiU 27.46%; Vallès Occidental: PSC 29.54%; CiU 29.34%) In the stronghold of Baix Llobregat the PSC vote decreased significantly but the margin was higher: PSC polled 34.97% and CiU 24.12%.

CIU experienced a remarkable increase in the Metropolitan Barcelona in 2010, even when the numbers are compared with the 1999 election. Barcelonès: CiU 33.95%; PSC 20.17%; Vallès Occidental: CiU 37%; PSC 19.3%; Baix Llobregat: CiU 31.94%; PSC 23.45%. In some interior comarcas PSC polled below 10%. For example, in the very nationalist Osona PSC got only 9.05% of the vote, polling behind CiU (50.32%), SI (9.7%) and ERC (9.41%)

[Velasco]

In 2010 Alicia Sánchez-Camacho improved the 2006 Josep Piqué's performance. PP got 18 seats (+4), its highest record in a Catalonian election, and 12.4% of the vote. ICV-EUiA achieved a good result in 2006 with Joan Saura. The coalition performed very well in the city of Barcelona and, surprisingly, in the "deep Catalonia". The ICV-EUiA result was determinant in order to retain the Tripartite's majority. Joan Saura reclaimed more power and was awarded with the Interior portfolio in the Montilla's cabinet. In 2010 the coalition's vote decreased slightly: 7.4% (-2.1%) of the vote and 10 (-2) seats.



The Catalonian independentism suffered various splits after an adversarial internal election. Joan Puigcercòs, the new ERC leader who replaced the conseller en cap (a sort of Catalan Premier) Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, achieved a disastrous result. ERC dropped from 14% to 7% and from 21 to 10 seats. A new independentist party, Solidarity for Independence, was the surprise of the 2010 election and got 4 seats. SI is a populist and cross-ideological party which was led by the former Barça president Joan Laporta. Also in the party were some politicians coming from ERC and CiU and some people linked to the informal independentist referendums that were held in several Catalonian municipalities. Finally, Joan Carretero left ERC after losing the internal election and created Rally for the Independence (RI) with a poor performance in the polls.



The Citizen's Party (Ciutadans, C's) was formed after a manifesto by a group of Catalan intelectuals very critical of Catalan nationalism. C's is regarded as a single-issue party due to its strong oposition to nationalism and language policies. Ideologically is supposed to be between liberalism and socialdemocracy, not too far from UPyD. It was the surprise in the 2006 election achieving 3 seats, all in Barcelona. In 2010 improved slightly and retained its seats. Its leader is Albert Rivera. Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) is a party led by the xenophobic Vic councillor Josep Anglada. It's another single-issue party, this time far-rightist and centered in an anti-islamist speech. Anglada was previously in Fuerza Nueva , a Francoist party in the beggining of the Transition. PXC has achieved good results in several municipalities with a great portion of inmigrant population (Vic, Vendrell, Salt and various places in Barcelona's periphery). It got around 75 000 votes in 2010 and not too far from the 3% threshold in the province of Barcelona.

[Leftbehind]

Superb work, andi.

[Velasco]

Barcelona Metropolitan Region, 2011 Municipal Eelctions:



Vote percentages in the maps for the Municipal Elections in the Metropolitan Barcelona: vote for candidatures. For the Catalonian elections percentages are "valid votes": vote to candidatures + blank votes (or NOTA).

Key:
PSC_PM: Socialists' Party of Catalonia-Municipal Progress. Center-left, Socialdemocracy.
CiU: Convergence and Union. Center-right, Liberalism, Christian Democracy, Nationalism, Independentism.
PP: People's Party. Conservative.
ERC-AM: Republican Left of Catalonia- Municipal Agreement. Left-wing Nationalism, Independentism.
ICV-EUiA:: Initiative for Catalonia Greens- Alternative and United Left. Green politics, Ecosocialism, Democratic Socialism, Communism. EUiA-BO: EUiA list in Olesa de Montserrat.
CUP: Candidatures of Popular Unity. Catalan Independentism, Socialism.
SI: Catalan Solidarity for Independence. Catalan Independentism.
Other: Mainly independent lists, also small groups like FIC (Independents' Federation of Catalonia).

[Velasco]

Barcelona, 2011 Municipal Election:

CiU won in Barcelona by the first time and Xavier Trias was the first nationalist and non-socialist mayor elected in Barcelona since 1979.



Councillors are elected at large. Barcelona is divided in 10 districts and the Minister of Interior data includes the results for them. The map above shows the CiU-PSC and PSC-CiU margins.

CiU won the election with 28.74% of the valid vote (vote for candidatures: 30.1%), while PSC got 22.14%. Each party won in 5 districts, but the margins were greater in those won by CiU: Sarriá-Sant Gervasi, Les Corts, Eixample and Gràcia. In Ciutat Vella and Sants-Montjuic the result was a virtual CiU-PSC draw.



Party results by district. The best result for CiU was in the very affluent district of Sarriá-Sant Gervasi with 48.47% of the valid votes. In the same district PSC only got 9.65%. In the working-class district of Nou Barris PSC got its best record (34.3%) and CiU its worst (15.68%).

PP performed well in Sarrià- Sant Gervasi (22.46%), Nou Barris (21.4%) and Les Corts (21.61%) where the conservative party came second. The worst results for the conservatives were in Gràcia (11.8% and 4th place) and Ciutat Vella (14.54%). Inverse trend for ICV-EUiA which came third in Grácia (13.06%) and performed pretty well in Ciutat Vella (14.4%), with worst records at Sarriá-Sant Gervasi (5.15%) and Les Corts (6.65%).

Finally Unitat per Barcelona, an independentist coalition between ERC, SI and Reagrupament got 5.55% of the vote, a pretty mediocre result which allowed them only two elected councillors: Jordi Portabella and Joan Laporta. Gràcia and Sants-Montjuïc were the best places for that list.

[Velasco]

Madrid, 2011 Municipal Election by district:

Alberto Ruíz Gallardón (PP) was reelected mayor. By the end of 2011 he was appointed minister of Justice and replaced by Ana Botella, wife of the former Spaniard PM José María Aznar. PSOE placed Jaime Lissavetzky, former secretary of Sports, as candidate. Madrid has been a PP stronghold since the 90's and a big mess for Spain's socialists. The blues won 20 out of 21 districts while PSOE won a plurality in Puente de Vallecas, a working-class district in Madrid's SE. There's a clear divide between the north and the south of the city. Salamanca and Chamartín (center-north), Chamberí (center) and Moncloa (west) were the better districts for PP. PSOE performed better in the SE districts (Vallecas, Vicálvaro, Villaverde, etc.). The United Left (IU) performed better at Centro and Vallecas (Villa and Puente). UPyD (Union, Progress and Democracy), the party of Rosa Díez, did better in the northern districts of Fuencarral, Hortaleza and Barajas, also in Retiro (centre) and Vicálvaro (east).

2011 Municipal Elections in the Region of Madrid:



Credits: El País.

[Velasco]

Navarre 2007:

The Navarrese People's Union (UPN) is a regionalist conservative party. The Navarrese regionalism is focused in the defence of the 'regional liberties' and the strong opposition to Basque nationalism. Navarre was an ancient medieval kingdom and has historical and cultural links with the neighbouring Basque Country. There's a clear divide between the Basque-speaking north of the region, between Pamplona and the French border, and the Castilian-speaking south, between the regional capital and the valley of the Ebro. UPN has been the hegemonic party in the regional politics since the 90's and rules the region since 1996. Between 1991 and 2008 acted as a Navarrese franchise of the Spain's People's Party (PP). The  Navarrese PP was dissolved and didn't run in any regional or local elections in Navarre during that period, while UPN and PP ran in a joint ticket for Spain's general elections.

The Basque nationalism in Navarre is minoritarian in the region as a whole, but particularly strong in the northern areas. Traditionally the abertzale left (HB and the like) was stronger than the traditional Basque nationalism. PNV has been always very marginal here, even weaker than Eusko Alkartasuna (EA), its split founded by Carlos Garaikoetxea, the former Basque lehendakari who was born in Navarre. The 2007 election saw the rise of a new coalition of the Basque nationalist parties: Nafarroa Bai (NaBai). The new force comprised Aralar (an HB pacifist split led by Patxi Zabaleta, who was the NaBai candidate in the 2007 election), Eusko Alkartasuna, the PNV, several independents under the label of Zabaltzen (as Uxue Barkos, Spain's deputy and candidate for Pamplona's mayoralty) and a left-wing group called Batzarre.

The abertzale left represented by HB, the ETA's political arm, tried to concur under the banner of ANV (Basque Nationalist Action), but the regional list was banned. However, several ANV lists concurred in the municipal elections which were held in the same date.

The Navarrese socialists (PSN-PSOE) have been played a secondary role in regional politics since the UPN-PP agreement. The party ruled the region in 1984-1991 (Gabriel Urralburu) and 1995-1996 (Javier Otano). In the last period the socialists formed a coalition with CDN (an UPN split led by the former regional premier Juan Cruz Alli) and EA.



*In aquamarine the municipalities with ties between UPN and NaBai.

UPN won the 2007 election with 42.2% and 22 seats; NaBai got 23.6% and 12 seats; PSN-PSOE 22.05% and 12 seats; CDN 4.4% and 2 seats and IU 4% and 2 seats.

Further talks between NaBai, PSN-PSOE and IU in order to form a coalition government failed, due to the opposition of the national PSOE that feared an adverse effect of a pact with Basque nationalist (especially the independentist Aralar) in the rest of Spain. Finally the PSN-PSOE was forced to back the reelection of Miguel Sanz (UPN) as regional premier.

Navarre 2011:

Yolanda Barcina, previously mayor of Pamplona, replaced Miguel Sanz as UPN candidate. The navarrese PP was re-founded after the break of the agreement with UPN in October 2008, due to the UPN's refusal to back PP in the Spain's Congress during the budget debate.

Nafarroa Bai suffered the defection of EA (now in Bildu) and Batzarre (this time in coalition with IU), so the remaining coalition, called NaBai 2011, was comprised by Aralar, Zabaltzen and PNV and led again by Patxi Zabaleta.

Bildu was comprised by abertzale left independents, EA, Alternatiba (IU split) and other small groups.



UPN got 34.5% of the vote and won 19 seats; PSN-PSOE 15.85% and 9 seats; NaBai 15.4% and 8 seats; Bildu 13.3% and 7 seats; PP 7.3% and 4 seats; IU-Ezquerra 5.7% and 3 seats and CDN lost its 2 seats.

Yolanda Barcina was elected regional premier leading an UPN-PSOE cabinet.

[Zanas]

Regarding that municipal Madrid election, I get Vallecas, but why is Centro the most red dsitrict on the map ? I guess it's not the same type of population as Vallecas, verdad ?

[Velasco]

No, the district of Centro is quite peculiar. As the name suggests comprises the central and older part of the city, including Puerta del Sol (KM. 0 of the national roads), la Casa de la Villa (Madrid's municipality HQs), the Royal Palace (the king doesn't live there nowadays) and distinctive wards such as Malasaña (center of La Movida in late 70's and early 80's) or Chueca (center of the LGTB community). While Centro is not the typical working-class neighbourhood like Vallecas, it's not a posh district such as Salamanca or Chamberí. There are popular wards such as Lavapiés and one of the main characteristics of the district is the high proportion of inmigrant population: according to the 2011 census, foreign population is 27% (the highest percentage in Madrid), including 36% of the Senegalese and 68.5% of the Bangladeshi living in the city. The Bangladeshi are the greatest group (8.8% of the foreigners in Centro) followed by Italians, Ecuatorians and Chinese. However, foreigners outside the EU can't vote.

Probably certain places like Chueca or Malasaña have been gentrified, and these wards attract a certain type of boboesque population that can switch between PSOE and IU. Since I don't know the results by precint, I'm just speculating, but I suspect that Gaspar Llamazares -who represents the 'open' new left inside the IU- must be quite popular among this group.

About Malasaña:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malasa%C3%B1a

In the 2011 General Election the results in Centro were: PP 41.52%; PSOE 27.64%; IU 12.12%; UPyD 9.26% and Equo 6.12%.

Just for comparison in the whole Madrid municipality PP got 51.51%; PSOE 25.72%; UPyD 9.72%; IU 7.89% and Equo 2.25%.

http://elecciones.mir.es/resultadosgenerales2011/99CG/DCG1228907999_L1.htm?d=1300

In the Municipal elections IU got above 18% of the vote in Centro, but Equo didn't run and the failed project of a Greenie party achieved some success in the following General Election in the district.

[Velasco]

I had forgotten these maps of the region of Valencia that I had done the last year.

Valencia 2011:

I don't want to spread too much. Valencia is a fiefdom of the Spain's People's Party since 1995, when Eduardo Zaplana -previously mayor Benidorm, a 'charming' tourist city in the coast of Alicante- won a plurality in the elections held in that year and wrested the regional presidency from the socialists. That year Zaplana formed a coalition government with Unió Valenciana, a regionalist 'blaverist' (anti-catalan) conservative party. In the following elections, the People's Party consolidated its domain gaining with absolute majorities. The Valencian branch of PP became in a powerful organization inside the Spain's conservative party and Eduardo Zaplana was appointed Minister of Labor and Social Issues by José María Aznar, then the Spain's PM. Zaplana was replaced by José Luis Olivas as President de la Generalitat Valenciana, but Francisco Camps took the control of the party in the Valencian region and replaced Olivas after the 2003 election. Olivas enjoyed a gilded retirement in Bancaixa and became vicepresident of Bankia, a wonderful financial institution born by the merger of CajaMadrid, the aforementioned Bancaixa and other savings banks, which was presided by the former Minister of Economy and 1st deputy PM and later Managing Director of the IMF, Rodrigo Rato. Bankia went to bankruptcy and Rato stepped down by 2012.

The relationship between Zaplana and Camps deteriorated rapidly and the Valencian PP was divided between 'campistas' and 'zaplanistas'. Camps developed a particular style of government characterized by costly inaugurations and the promotion of events such as the F1 Urban Circuit in Valencia or the Pope's visit to the same city. Camps, who won a landslide in 2007 with 53.27% (votes to candidature), was implicated in a corruption scandal known as the Gürtel Case. That case threatened to undermine his political career and was the central issue during the 2011 campaign.

In spite of losing some support, Camps won comfortably the elections opposite to a very weakened PSPV (Socialist Party of the Valencian Country), led by the uncharismatic Jorge Alarte. On the left, the coalition between EUPV (IU's Valencian branch), the Valencian Nationalist Bloc, the Greens and others, broke after a disappointing result in the 2007 election and several internal crisis. EUPV and the new coalition Compromís -Valencian nationalists, plus  Valencian's People Initiative (IdPV) and ecologist parties-  ran in different lists in the 2011 election.

The result of the 2011 election was (percentages over votes cast): PP 48.53% and 55 seats (+1); PSPV-PSOE 27.5% and 33 seats (-5); Compromís 7.03% and 6 seats (+2)*;  EUPV 5.79% and 5 seats (+2)*

* Variation with regard to the deputies who had the Valencian Nationalist Bloc and IdPV on the one hand, and EUPV for the other one, inside the 2007 coalition, called Compromís pel País Valencià.

The surprise of the election was the good result of Compromís. The coalition's candidate was Enrique Morera (Bloc), but in the practice he did a tandem in the campaign with Mónica Oltra (IdPV), the most popular figure of the coalition due to her clashes with Camps in the regional parliament.

The CVA (Valencian Coalition) which appears in the map because it won in a small municipality, is a disgusting far-right 'blaverist' party. It gained a ridicolous 0.37% region-wide.

2011 Municipal Elections in Valencia:



Leading parties in the municipalities of the Valencian region and results in the city of Valencia by district. Rita Barberá (PP) was easily re-elected mayoress of the regional capital.

EDIT: I made same changes in the Valencian maps.

[Niemeyerite]

Horrible Maps, ugh. But.. Buen trabajo

[Velasco]

Do you still want maps of the Madrid elections? ...I know you loove Esperanza Aguirre . By the moment I'll post soon a map that I made of Aragón, which is a region that I like because of family links. I just need to draw the provincial boundaries (I felt too lazy to do so with Valencia).  At least the PSPV won Benidorm in the municipal elections, though lost Elche to the PP. In a sidenote, Orihuela and Villena, in the province of Alicante, elected green mayors thanks to anti-PP coalitions. The PP mayoress of Orihuela was as beautiful as incompetent. Orihuela, the town where the poet Miguel Hernández was born, is so conservative that it was a kind of miracle that PP didn't get an absolute majority there...

[Niemeyerite]

Do you still want maps of the Madrid elections? ...I know you loove Esperanza Aguirre . By the moment I'll post soon a map that I made of Aragón, which is a region that I like because of family links. I just need to draw the provincial boundaries (I felt too lazy to do so with Valencia).  At least the PSPV won Benidorm in the municipal elections, though lost Elche to the PP. In a sidenote, Orihuela and Villena, in the province of Alicante, elected green mayors thanks to anti-PP coalitions. The PP mayoress of Orihuela was as beautiful as incompetent. Orihuela, the town where the poet Miguel Hernández was born, is so conservative that it was a kind of miracle that PP didn't get an absolute majority there...

It'd be disgusting to see the "blue" Madrid, but, hey, do it. Fuenlabrada is still red haha..

Do you know why Orihuela has a green mayor? he finished 4th after PSPV and some local party. BTW, Orihuela = Murcia.

[Zanas]

The PP mayoress of Orihuela was as beautiful as incompetent.

When you say something like that, my little buddy, you have to post a pic.

It'd be disgusting to see the "blue" Madrid, but, hey, do it. Fuenlabrada is still red haha..

Do you know why Orihuela has a green mayor? he finished 4th after PSPV and some local party. BTW, Orihuela = Murcia.

Well, no, Orihuela es en la provincia de Alicante, though closer to Murcia.

[Velasco]

The PP mayoress of Orihuela was as beautiful as incompetent.

When you say something like that, my little buddy, you have to post a pic.

OK. I spent a few minutes in Google Image Search. This photo illustrates a news, dated two months before the elections, in El Mundo online. Nothing new actually, just corruption related with urban development.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/25/alicante/1301070860.html

I like this photo, taken in Orihuela's Holy Week, because women wearing peinetas and mantillas have a strange attractive. Ask Julio for Dolores de Cospedal

It'd be disgusting to see the "blue" Madrid, but, hey, do it. Fuenlabrada is still red haha..

Do you know why Orihuela has a green mayor? he finished 4th after PSPV and some local party. BTW, Orihuela = Murcia.

Well, no, Orihuela es en la provincia de Alicante, though closer to Murcia.

Julio meant that Orihuela has more in common with the region of Murcia than with Valencia.

As for what Julio asked, sometimes the coalition agreements after the elections give strange results. PSPV got 6 councilors, the CLR 4 and the Greenies 3, adding 13 of 25 (PP got 12). The three parties agreed in giving the mayoralty to a certain Monserrate Guillén (Los Verdes), who thanked the socialists and the local party for their generosity. Btw, that local party, the CLR (Centro Liberal Renovador), claims to be a centrist party heir of UCD and CDS. One of the CLR's elected councilors is British, representing the foreign population in the town. In Benidorm the PSPV got the mayoralty thanks to the support of the 3 CDL (Centro Democrático Liberal) councilors. That group is comprised by former PP's zaplanistas. On the other hand, the greenies are like the several Judaic liberation fronts in The Life of Brian. Apparently the Orihuela's greenies go in coalition with IU, while the Villena's ones were in Equo. Not to mention the strange organic relationship between the Oltra's IdPV and Equo or that coalition called Compromís-Q. What a mess...

Edit: Definitely I don't feel comfortable posting photos of cute good looking politicians here, so I removed that one where Mónica Lorente, the former mayoress, was showing her legs. Sorry.