Mas Camarena-Torre en Conill, the coalition that passed from the chalet to decide the council

With an average annual net income per inhabitant of 14,708 euros, Bétera is the municipality with the highest per capita income in the Valencian Community.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
23 May 2023 Tuesday 22:52
32 Reads
Mas Camarena-Torre en Conill, the coalition that passed from the chalet to decide the council

With an average annual net income per inhabitant of 14,708 euros, Bétera is the municipality with the highest per capita income in the Valencian Community. "It's not that bad, but many soccer players live here... and that raises the average," says Carlos Abad, a property manager and resident of Mas Camarena, one of the town's developments, next to the Technological Park and the Valencia Sports City. Football club. “There are chaleteros here, people who only come on Sunday, rich people… there is everything. There are people who get up at six in the morning to go to work. There are modest houses and there are spectacular chalets", describes Abad, who rejects the image of 'posh' that is attributed to them from the outside.

This last legislature has been councilor for Health, Parks, Gardens and Water, after having obtained 2,012 votes with his Mas Camarena-Torre en Conill (MC-TC) party in the 2019 elections. This electoral campaign is once again the head of the list to repeat what was already a success for the formation, since it obtained 17.55% of the votes of Bétera.

The group has a short history, since it comes from the union of two different parties: in 2007 Ciudadanos de Bétera (CUBE) obtained 1,039 votes, 10.01%. "With those two councilors we could do little, and in the following elections we grouped with Mas Camarena because what we have in common is defending the interest of the residents of the urbanizations," explains Manuel J. Alberto Chover, fourth on the MC list. -TC and founder of CUBE.

In the 2011 elections, synergy had not yet occurred and they were again free: Mas Camarena's party obtained 1,133 votes, 10.07%; CUBE, a single councilor with 681 votes, 6.06%. Already in 2015 they learned that the union was the key to making noise and achieving progress in their neighborhoods, which is what they were looking for, and they presented themselves under the acronym MC-TC. In those elections that Compromís won, the party that emerged from neighborhood demands obtained three councilors and 1,633 votes (13.9%). "As neighbors, we filed claims for services with the City Council and it was not enough, they did not pay attention to us," he recalls. Abbot. Solution? "We were clear that we had to enter the City Council to gain more strength and although we entered, we did not manage to be in the government," he adds.

Until 2019. Then Compromís won again, but MC-TC supported the PP and it took over the Bétera consistory. Being the third force - they surpassed the PSOE by 591 votes and one more councilor - Chover entered the government as Councilor for Culture and Education.

They have also managed the area of ​​public works and the environment, issues that interested them, as they explain that it was important for them to fight for their residential areas. “Our urbanizations have been finished for years, but we lack the same services. For anything you have to go to Bétera. There are many older people who no longer drive and are almost confined here," argues Abad.

That is why they work in the electoral office that they have set up at the entrance of the Mas Camarena shopping center, a cubicle lined with a color photo of the members of the candidacy, where they meet to attend to the neighbors, since they do not have headquarters own. They say that “the mayor's office is not our priority because of the tension that can be created with the other urbanizations. Some say that we are looking for a system of privileges, but that is not the case”.