C.M.W. Maó
The latest chapter in the continuing troubled saga of Ciutadella Council came last Wednesday when Llorenç Brondo tendered his resignation as Mayor of Ciutadella and Councillor, justifying his action by the impossibility of combining his work with his position as Mayor. The resignation came following a pact made the previous evening between the PSOE and PSM to call for a motion of censure and a change of ruling party in the Council; the Mayor's move pre-empting such an action.
Antònia Salord Moll has temporarily taken the position and will act as Mayor until the Council elects Brondo's successor on 16th March.
The fact that Brondo has resigned restricts the people who can apply for the position of Mayor to those candidates at the head of the lists of the four parties running in the last municipal elections: Antònia Gener (number two in the PP - Brondo himself having headed the list), Joan Gorrías (PSOE), Maite Salord (PSM) and Joan Triay (UPCM). The candidate to be elected Mayor will be the one who receives 11 of the 21 votes. If, after a second vote, none of the candidates has obtained the necessary majority, then the post will automatically be filled by Antònia Gener as the head of the list of the party which received the most votes in the last elections.
Brondo and his team were elected as members of the Partido Popular but broke away from the party last year claiming that it was impossible to work with Joan Triay of the UPCM with whom the PP had made a pact in order to have the majority necessary to run the Council. They then formed the Grupo Mixto (Mixed Group) which has held the power in Ciutadella Council since.
Brondo's resignation last week reduced the party's numbers to eight and the following day this was reduced still further with the resignation of Adrienne Sans who had been the Councillor for Culture and Social Services. Sans has been on sick leave for several months so her decision to resign was not totally unexpected.