Mayor goes it alone

THE mayor of Colmenar, Antonio Fernandez, refuses to resign although his party, the PP, is in the minority.

Fernandez has headed a minority council since last November, supported by just one other PP councillor.

The nine-strong Opposition, composed of PSOE and IU councillors  together with another from Convergencia Andaluza, is calling for Fernandez to leave his post.

They also accuse him of chairing last Friday’s council meeting and introducing proposals which had not been agreed beforehand and were later defeated.

He intends to continue at the head of the town hall, a defiant Fernandez told the Spanish news agency, EFE.  Together with the other PP councillor, he was determined to oversee the running of the town and protect residents’ interests, he declared.

He could not understand why the Opposition insisted on labelling him as irresponsible, Fernandez claimed.  “There are nine councillors and they can’t agree over forming an alternative administration,” he said.

His day-to-day routine progresses “with normality,” Fernandez insisted, despite the precarious situation of the council he presides.  “There is a great deal to do and I am available 24 hours a day to respond to residents’ problems.