• Extremadura The 'deniers' of the 'Always Don Benito' take sides
  • Courts Justice admits an appeal against the process of the merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena

'Vegas Altas' is no longer a dream for 2027 but a real nightmare with a completely uncertain end. The new city that was destined to become the third most important in Extremadura due to the historical merger between the municipalities of Don Benito (37,120 inhabitants) and Villanueva de la Serena (25,837) may end up on deaf ears. The results of the last municipal elections have dynamited the road map designed by the socialist mayors of both populations, José Luis Quintana and Miguel Ángel Gallardo, who had led the process with the endorsement of the popular consultation of February 2022 that raised suspicions in the count of Don Benito. From that same night the merger was clouded, with a divided and tense atmosphere that has now moved to the municipal polls.

As a result, the emergence as a second political force of Siempre Don Benito, which was born in that context as a civil platform to later transform into a political party, has completely disrupted the planned road map. He focused his campaign on the message that voting for them "was the last chance to stop the merger." The effect was to leave Quintana without an absolute majority (of 14 councilors passed 9) and in the hands of a possible agreement between the negationists and the Popular Party (third option at the polls with 5 councilors).

To get an idea of the importance of the change, in the city of Don Benito – without counting the six smaller entities of the region that then add the votes obtained to form the City Council – the victory corresponded to the new political formation (6,430 votes), ahead of the PSOE (6,417) and PP (3,449). Including the smaller entities, the Socialists got the support of 7,856 citizens (in 2019 there were 10,140), Siempre Don Benito of 6,621 and PP of 4,213. "With our votes, the merger cannot come out," acting Mayor Jose Quintana said on election night. "The people don't want this merger. The PP must reflect on what the people have spoken, "Don Benito was ready to say. "Our party will always act thinking of Don Benito," warned from the popular ranks.

Candidacy of Siempre Don Benito, second force on 28-M.EL MUNDO

Several days later, the negotiation process is already underway. The first appointment was this Tuesday and the next, on Friday to determine the governance of the City Council, including who will be the mayor, but in which the positions on the merger will be decisive to reach an agreement. The PP, led by Councilman Angel Valadés, has sat separately with the other two formations, which between them do not maintain any contact. "The meeting has gone on the right track, there are possibilities of agreement," says to this newspaper the candidate of Siempre Don Benito, María Fernanda Sánchez, a retired official, who aspires to be mayor. The final decision is in the hands of the party led by María Guardiola at the regional level, which has always defended its position "in favor of the merger", but has criticized the forms: "It has been a process without transparency, so we claim that the processes have to be clean and clear, otherwise distrust is generated in citizens. "

Pedro Miguel Noblejas, candidate of the PP in Don Benito, maintains that the process "has not been transparent, there has been no information to citizens and has been imposed until the name of the new city, 'Vegas Altas', when the majority of citizens preferred that of 'Don Benito-Villanueva'", criticizes. The Mayor's Office claims for being the only party with the capacity for dialogue with the rest and asks for a possible merger much longer in time, without urgencies. "The first thing is to focus in the next four years on Don Benito, on his urgent needs." And he confesses: "We are suffering a lot of pressures, in one direction and in another."

Analysis, study and dialogue

In its electoral program, the PP advocated calmly opening "a period of analysis, study and dialogue with all possible information in the face of the total lack of information" and betting on reviewing "the union agreement to know in detail the true advantages and disadvantages" of the merger. The main thing is that he introduced a possible solution to tackle the suspicions left by the referendum result in Don Benito, where the 'Yes' won, after three hours of information blackout, by only a few tenths -66.27% when it had been established at 66%-: "If the citizens demand it, we will propose the realization of a new consultation", advocates the PP.

For Siempre Don Benito, the paralysis of the merger process would not entail any legal problem: "Everything that has been done during this time is smoke, here only a non-binding popular consultation was held and then the mayors signed a protocol with the Government – on March 3 of this year – that has to be ratified by the plenary sessions of both municipalities, and now the PSOE in a minority in Don Benito can not move it forward. Meanwhile, after 28-M, a platform in favour of fusion has been formed overnight, which has already organised its first rallies. "They thought we were going to take out two or three and that we were not going to be decisive and it has been a surprise for them, so now they are launching these things, with people supposedly interposed, to take out all the artillery in order to discredit us and not lose power," says the candidate of Siempre Don Benito.

Miguel Ángel Gallardo, mayor of Villanueva de la Serena -who did win by absolute majority-, and in turn president of the Diputación de Badajoz, tries to pressure the possible new president of the Junta de Extremadura, María Guardiola, so that his formation does not agree with Siempre Don Benito: "He has not yet positioned himself clearly as the previous president of the regional PP did, José Antonio Monago». As for the possibility that the process does not go ahead, he said: "As mayor frankly I am sorry because it is the best and greatest social, economic and political project not only for the residents of the two towns, but for all Extremadurans."

On the results in Don Benito that call into question the process of union, Gallardo has also said that he will always feel "proud" of having tried "with the greatest of strengths something that was infinitely good" although he pointed out: "We will not lose strength if the political parties of Don Benito do not want the merger", which was expected to be historic, And now it hangs by a thread.

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