PP launches vote of no confidence in Mijas and Ana Mata is set to be new mayor

The conservative Partido Popular (PP) is set to take control of Mijas town hall, currently in the hands of the PSOE, after announcing a vote of no confidence. The PP has made the move with the support of hard-right Vox and former Ciudadanos mayor Juan Carlos Maldonado, who represents the independent group Por Mi Pueblo, according to sources consulted by SUR.

The motion, after being signed before a notary, was registered this morning [Wednesday] at Mijas town hall and will make the PP's Ana Mata the new mayor and the first woman to hold this position in the town. The nine PP councillors, added to the three from Vox and Maldonado's vote, add up to thirteen councillors, making an absolute majority and representing 48.5% of the votes in the local elections of 28 May. Now, within ten working days, a plenary council session will have to be held to elect the new mayor.

As to the reasons for the vote of no confidence, sources consulted mentioned the poor management of the current local government team, led by Socialist Josele González, the economic handling of the town hall and the claim that the institution is being used as a "political platform" to attack the Junta de Andalucía.

The possibility of a vote of no confidence has hung over Mijas like a sword of Damocles since the council was constituted. In the last municipal elections, the PSOE won with ten councillors, followed by the PP with nine, Vox with three, Ciudadanos with two and Por Mi Pueblo with one councillor. On 9 June, eight days before the constitution of the town councils, the Socialist candidate, Josele González, reached a pact to maintain the control with Ciudadanos and Maldonado, with whom he had been governing during the previous term.

This agreement was possible because González and Maldonado overcame their personal quarrels, resulting from the breakdown of the pact between them in 2019, and managed to form a three-party coalition with Ciudadanos, the party that Juan Carlos Maldonado had abandoned.

Maldonado's differences and confrontation with the PP candidate and former mayor, Ángel Nozal, meant the Partido Popular politician did not take up his post as councillor.

From the very day of the constitution of the town councils, on 17 June, the PP set itself the objective of governing in Mijas, where it has only done so for four years - between 2011 and 2015 with Nozal - and the moves began, according to the sources consulted. These added that Maldonado was not comfortable governing with the PSOE and Ciudadanos.