Just two votes see José Bernal deposed as Mayor of Marbella and Ángeles Muñoz returned

Partido Popular Marbella San Pedro

Ángeles Muñoz explaining her plans for the future

WHILST supporters of Marbella Mayor José Bernal stood forlornly outside of the town hall, former mayor Ángeles Muñoz successfully saw Bernal kicked out.

This means that after serving from 2007 to 2015, Ms Muñoz will return as the Partido Popular Mayor of Marbella with the certainty of ruling for the next 21 months provided that the San Pedro Independence Party doesn’t have another change of heart in the meantime.

When the 2015 council election results were revealed, although the PP had the largest number of seats, they no longer had a majority and a tripartite group headed by the socialist PSOE party and  supported unofficially by two Podemos councillors took power.

The balance of power sat with the San Pedro Independence Party and its leader Rafael Piña had consistently railed against Ángeles Muñoz in the past calling her an “Agent of Luxembourg” and a “dictator”.

A promise of greater self-autonomy and €18 million does however seem to have swayed Mr Piña and led him to support the PP in a vote of no confidence.

Whilst this appears to have a been something of a bloodless coup with neither leader damning the other and both acting relatively graciously in the short term following the result, time will tell whether there be any significant differences in the way that Marbella is run prior to the next election.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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