De la Torre remains unclear on whether he will run again for Mayor of Malaga in 2027

Francisco de la Torre has still not clarified whether he will run as the PP party's candidate for Mayor of Malaga in the municipal elections on 23 May 2027.

De la Torre, 83, has said he doesn't feel pressured by deadlines after his party called an event in Galicia on 18 July to present the lead candidates for the major cities.

"I haven't made a decision yet," De la Torre told SUR on Thursday during the presentation of the 2026-2027 concert season of the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, while avoiding specifying whether he is currently leaning more towards running again or resigning.

"I'll think about it. It's true that a date has been proposed, but there are still two weeks left," De la Torre said as the presentation of the candidates approaches.

This time the presentation is taking place "a little earlier" than on previous occasions. For the 2023 municipal elections, the mayor had announced his decision in September of 2022, eight months before the election, while for the 2019 elections he had done so in February 2018 (15 months before) after taking a month to reflect following the party's request that he lead again.

This time, he will reveal his intentions ten months in advance.

De la Torre said that, if he ran for mayor again, he would like to "adapt" his schedule to have more time to play sports.

Should he decide to run again, it would be the seventh time Francisco de la Torre has headed the PP in Malaga, after replacing Celia Villalobos in May 2000 following her appointment as minister.

He won the elections with an absolute majority in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2023, while in 2015 and 2019 he had to form a coalition with Ciudadanos: the first time with a legislative pact and the second with a governing agreement that led to two Ciudadanos councillors joining the PP's local government.

If De la Torre decides to resign, likely candidates to replace him are regional minister of economy Carolina España and deputy secretary of regional, local and electoral analysis policy of the PP Elías Bendodo.

Read dedicated local reporting for Malaga city