Axarquia bucks national trend

With voters across the nation shifting their allegiances to insurgent newcomers Podemos and Ciudadanos, Axarquia bucked the trend with a traditional largely two-party race unfolding between the governing PP and the Socialist PSOE parties.  

Velez-Malaga saw the PSOE just edge out the PP with 11,376 to 10,523, while the PP secured a fairly dominant victory in Rincon de la Victoria, whilst stealing Nerja with just a few hundred votes. 

The wider Malaga electorate gave the PSOE a narrow victory and they will send six representatives to the Madrid Congress, while the PP claim five and Podemos three. 

Locally and nationwide the results were tight, and, given the critical negotiations now lingering on the horizon as the four main parties scramble to forge new alliances, it is clear that important sections of the electorate will be courted in the future. 

Unfortunately, for long- term expatriate residents, this means they will likely continue to be excluded from a vibrant political scene with no viable campaign existing to extend suffrage to the million- strong expat community.

Only nationals can vote in the general election, and until there is a consensus demand for inclusion, through political participation, expats will continue to be helpless bystanders as ever more important decisions are made in Madrid.