Spain has more elections than the UK for the simple reason that there is another main level- that of the Autonomous Community. So for a Spanish citizen life is a continuous round of canvassing and voting-local (municipio), Autonomous Community, National and then of course EU elections.
The lampposts and hoardings are hardly cleaned of the photos of one lot of candidates before another bunch of well-meaning but sometimes rather frightening faces appear. Local elections are every 4 years as are Community ones and the turnout is normally an impressive 65%, higher than in the UK.
However voting is somewhat simpler for other EU citizens living here and if you happen to come from a non-EU country (any South American country for example) you can’t vote at all. EU and Norwegian citizens have the right to vote in local municipal elections and in EU elections but not in National or Community ones.
You may well be paying all your taxes, rates and be an excellent citizen but this doesn’t count! To take up your right to vote in local elections you need to have registered on the ¨padron¨, a list of residents of the municipality and at the same time make sure you go on the Census documents. Voting lists are issued 2 months before the elections to enable mistakes to be rectified.
Candidates are chosen about 8 weeks before the elections and canvassing and campaigning continues right up to 2 days before the election when a period of reflection is allowed for! Voting itself is similar to the UK-your polling station will be the nearest school or library or other official building.
In the booths lists of the candidates from each party are provided and envelopes. Pop your list into the envelope and head to the desk with your identification (the card that comes in the post and your Residencia card or passport) and your envelope will be put in the urn. Election is based on a proportional representation system so the party with the most envelopes will get the most seats and the next party the next highest number …and so on.
The mayor has to be elected within 1 month and is usually the head of the majority party. He or she will then normally appoint the rest of the important positions from his/hers elected members. The mayor and several other “concejales” receive a full-time salary.
Marbella has had an extremely difficult time recently with the corruption scandals of Operation Malaya, last year, and Operation White Whale before that. With two mayors and numerous other town Hall officials in prison the Junta of Andalucia has put an administrative commission in place to oversee all planning and building activities.
Therefore, the main election issue in Marbella is how to stop the corruption, money-laundering and the massive over-urbanisation of the area (with permits being granted illegally all over the place). Many residents have had their houses declared illegal and have received notification of forthcoming demolitions!
Other major issues at the moment involve immigration-both legal and illegal. The Costa del Sol receives thousands of immigrants from Sub Saharan Africa every year and many people would like to see a sympathetic solution to the problem to avoid more tragic deaths at sea in tiny overcrowded boats.
Migration from the EU is also an issue with many people-often because of the employment and housing situation. Water is a problem faced by all municipalities in the area-with decreasing rainfall the guarantee of a water-supply plan is a definite election issue. Finally, finding a solution to drugs and the street crime and gangs associated with them will tax the intellect of any prospective mayoral candidate.
