The Pamplona City Council at times acquires the blue color of UPN, the first force in the consistory, since the PSN has confirmed that it will not support EH Bildu, the second force in the city. The socialist candidate, Elma Saiz, has confirmed that her formation, third on Sunday, will choose to present her candidacy, avoiding giving her support to the two formations that have surpassed her in votes and seats. The chances of the PSN candidacy prospering are slim, although the decision is understood from the determination of the PSOE to open an abyss with respect to EH Bildu a few weeks before the general elections.
Saiz has communicated this decision this morning, in a surprise call. The determination, in any case, has not surprised in political circles in Navarra. The possibility of an understanding of the PSN with EH Bildu in this city seemed complicated with some generals at the end of the year; once the president, Pedro Sánchez, communicated his intention to advance the elections to July 23, it seemed practically impossible. Not even the fact that the socialist María Chivite needs the abstention of EH Bildu in Parliament to be proclaimed president invited us to think about a change of trading cards with the Pamplona City Council.
The municipal elections in this city have left a panorama that is difficult to manage. Once the Navarra Suma coalition was broken, UPN has capitalized on the vote of the right and has been the first force, with 9 councilors and the obvious possibility that its candidate, Cristina Ibarrola, may be mayor. EH Bildu has been the second force in the city, just a few votes behind the regionalists and prevailing in all the northern neighborhoods of the city. His candidate, Joseba Asiron, however, will not repeat as mayor (he was between 2015 and 2019), unless the ups and downs of the legislature lead to changes.
In third place was the PSN, with 5 councilors, followed by the PP (2), Geroa Bai (2) and the Contigo/Zurekin coalition (1 councilor). Ibarrola, therefore, will have the only support of the two PP mayors in a legislature that is expected to be difficult for regionalists to govern.
The PSN candidate for Mayor of Pamplona, Elma Saiz, has stated that she wants to "lead" the City Council and that, for this reason, "right today" she is going to call the candidates of Geroa Bai, Koldo Martínez, and With you Navarra, Txema Mauleón, to "build" a municipal government, a "government of dialogue, from centrality and progressive."
Elma Saiz stated at a press conference that "PSN, Geroa Bai and Contigo Navarra have more social support than EH Bildu" and pointed out that the three together obtained a thousand more votes than the abertzale formation. For this reason, she has indicated that she will call Martínez and Mauleón "to work to build a municipal government, a government of dialogue, of coexistence, of progress, that will get the city out of paralysis." "We are an alternative to the right and to the independence movement," she has sentenced.
The decision of the Navarrese socialists, in any case, is understood above all in a national key. A few weeks before the elections, the PSOE does not want its initials to appear next to those of EH Bildu. The Socialists consider that the use of the controversial nationalist lists has served to mobilize the electorate of the right and has made a dent in their party outside Euskadi and Navarra
The Socialists will come to an understanding in the coming weeks with the PNV or Geroa Bai (Navarrese coalition of PNV and Geroa Socialverdes), but not with the Abertzale coalition. And they want that decision to be patent and notorious.
A separate chapter will be the negotiation of the investiture of the socialist María Chivite, who needs the abstention of EH Bildu, in addition to the support of Geroa Bai and Contigo/Zurekin. The proclamation of her as her president and the reissue of her government, however, can wait beyond July 23.
