All change in Orihuela is on the cards after April 25 no-confidence vote

CIUDADANOS councillors in Orihuela will help the PSOE socialists and Cambiemos Orihuela to remove the city’s mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, on April 25.

Until now the five Ciudanos councillors were part of the local government, contributing their votes to a coalition with the Partido Popular (PP).

If the vote of no confidence is successful, the PSOE’s Carolina Gracia will take over from Basucuña just over a year before the next municipal elections scheduled for 2023.

Ciudadanos’ Jose Aix will no longer head Orihuela’s Education department but retains his position as deputy mayor.

While the Valencian Community’s PSOE party has approved the move, Ciudadanos – headed nationally by Ines Arrimadas and regionally by Javier Gutierrez – has made it clear that that they have not authorised the councillors’ decision to cross the council chamber floor.

Although Cambiemos will support the no-confidence motion, none of the party’s three councillors will hold positions at the new city hall although their votes will be vital on April 25.  Added to the six PSOE votes and five from Ciudadanos, they will outnumber the PP’s nine votes and Vox’s two.

Meanwhile, the Partido Popular in Orihuela condemned the PSOE-Ciudadanos-Cambiemos Orihuela manoeuvre as “senseless” and “based on personal interests.”

A statement went on to maintain that the no-confidence motion would serve no purpose except to “so instability and chaos.”