New mayor in Nerja ends 20 years of conservative rule

A TWENTY-year stretch at the helm of Nerja Council has come to an end for Jose Alberto Armijo, who will now be part of the opposition.
PSOE socialist party leader Rosa Arrabal was invested as the town’s new mayor on Saturday with the six votes from her own party, two votes of Ciudadanos, two from left-wing party Izquierda Unida and one vote from EVA-Podemos.
Mr Armijo, leader of the Partido Popular conservative party, who has been Mayor of Nerja since 1995, will now lead the opposition as his party was not able to maintain their absolute majority, marked at 11 councillors.
“Tonight we are celebrating democracy,” said lawyer and new mayor of the town, Ms Arrabal, who continued: “Nerja asked for a change during the elections and we will deliver.”
It has not yet been decided whether the supporting parties will be part of the new local government or also make up the opposing parties.
Amongst the main priorities of the new council are employment, transparent accounts and participative budgets.