Canarian Coalition

Canary Coalition (CC) is a Spanish political group founded in 1993 that brings together several nationalist, insular, centrist, liberal parties and, in a minority, progressive Canarian parties. He ruled the archipelago for 26 years.

He held the presidency of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands without interruption since 1993, when he acceded to the autonomous government through a motion of no confidence, participating in all governments, alone or in agreement with other political formations, until 2019. In his Almost 27 years in office, his main political position has been to achieve greater autonomy within Spain without having to renounce it. At present, he does not govern in any council despite being the most voted list in the Councils of Tenerife, La Palma and Fuerteventura. CC is integrated into the Mixed Group in the Congress of Deputies with 2 seats.

Ideology

Canary Coalition was founded with the purpose of applying and defending the autonomy of the Canary Islands, within a framework of solidarity with the regions and nationalities of Spain as a whole. It defines itself as a nationalist, progressive party with a federal structure; in turn, it declares itself autonomist, for which it considers that the best way to manage the resources of the Canary Islands is political decentralization and the right of self-government. It defends Spain, but differentiating the different and complementary historical realities with the Canary Islands, it also has a clearly European vocation.

It is called nationalist, but it is not an independence party, since: it defends the constitution, the unity of Spain, it is against independence and the right to self-determination, and it wants more powers and more autonomy within Spain.

History

Municipalities governed by Coalition Canaria following the constitution of new municipal corporations on June 15, 2019 (in yellow).

The political parties that formed the Canarian Coalition at its founding were:

• Independent groups of the Canary Islands (AIC)
• Izquierda Nacionalista Canaria (INC)
• Major Assembly (AM)
• Canario Nationalist Party (PNC)
• Independent Canary Centre (CCI), predecessor of the Canary Centre (CCN)

All these parties, with the exception of the PNC, had representation in the Parliament of the Canary Islands in 1993, when they presented the motion of no confidence against the government of Jerónimo Saavedra (PSOE), giving the presidency to Manuel Hermoso, leader of the AIC, with which the first antecedent of the coalition was found on March 31 of that year.

Subsequently, various minor parties joined the Coalition. In 1995, this party won the regional elections, winning 21 of the 60 seats in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, obtaining 261,424 votes. In 1999, the Canarian Coalition obtained its best result to date, obtaining 24 seats. In the 2003 elections, the Canary Coalition obtained 21 seats, and again revalidates his position in it.

On May 28 and 29, 2005, the III National CC Congress was held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with the disappearance of the political parties that formed the CC and remaining as a single party. The flag of the seven green stars, historically used by the Canarian independence movement, was also adopted as the party's flag, and Paulino Rivero was re-elected as president of the group.

Canary Coalition had its own parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies between the V Legislature of Spain and the VIII. After a serious crisis in Gran Canaria in 2005, the critical sector of the party on that island, headed by the former president of the autonomous community, Román Rodríguez, broke with the party, creating a new political formation called Nueva Canarias. The formation threatened to break the groups in Congress and the Senate if an agreement was not reached on the division of functions in parliamentary work. As a result, the new political group Coalición Canaria-Nueva Canarias was created, sharing the spokesperson, speaking time and commission work. Finally, in June 2007, Román Rodríguez moved to the Mixed Group, causing the disappearance of his own parliamentary group.In that legislature, he maintained his own group in the Senate thanks to the senators who "lend him"; the PSOE.

The Canarian Nationalist Center (CCN) left the coalition, running separately in the 2007 regional elections, while the Canarian Nationalist Party (PNC) decided to join the coalition for the same elections.

In the 2007 regional elections, it won 19 seats in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, becoming the third party with the most votes (222,905 23.69% votes) behind the PSOE (322,833 votes) and the PP (224,883 votes). with a significant setback on the island of Gran Canaria. Despite being the third force, its candidate, Paulino Rivero, was sworn in as president of the Canary Islands thanks to the support of the Popular Party. This investiture caused a series of pacts in cascade that associated the Canary Islands Coalition and the PP in many of the municipalities of the islands.

The general elections of 2008 represented a setback in votes and institutional representation in relation to the previous elections. The Canary Islands Coalition-Canarian Nationalist Party obtained 164,255 votes in Congress (16.82% in the Canary Islands), which meant a loss of more than 80,000 votes compared to the previous elections, obtaining two seats. The setback was especially accentuated in Las Palmas, where the division and split of the Coalition parties took a greater toll, obtaining only 7.57% of the votes (compared to the previous 18.06%) and losing the seat it obtained in 2004 for this province (a seat that he had already lost after the creation of Nueva Canarias). In the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, its results were similar to those of 2004, with a slight setback that did not prevent it from revalidating its two seats. The results for the Senate were also worse, only revalidating its senator for the island of El Hierro from AHI-CC, losing those corresponding to the island of Tenerife and La Palma.

The IV National CC Congress was held in October 2008 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In it Claudina Morales was elected national president of the Party, thus becoming the first woman to chair a political party in the Canary Islands. For her part, María del Mar Julios was elected organization secretary. The petition of the youth group of the party to establish October 22 as Day of the Canary Nation was also approved.

In view of the 2011 general elections, it was announced that it would run in a coalition with Nueva Canarias, with CC heading the list for Santa Cruz and NC for Las Palmas. Likewise, the Canarian Nationalist Party and Centro Canario have joined the coalition. Nationalist, although previously the CCN had proposed reaching an agreement with the Popular Party, proposals rejected by the other formations. However, in the end the CCN did not support said coalition. In 2011 in the CC Congress, he lost a deputy for Tenerife and win one for Gran Canaria. And in the Senate, CC loses a senator for Tenerife and gains one for El Hierro.

For the future elections to the parliament of the Canary Islands in 2019, they will present themselves in the Gran Canaria constituency together with the United for Gran Canaria party, through the name of Coalition for Gran Canaria, thus trying to regain their political weight on that island, as the island was an important stronghold of his party.

The Canary Islands Coalition governed the Canary Islands from 1993 (thanks to a vote of no confidence) until 2019. It did not govern, despite the fact that it increased in votes compared to the previous electoral date, since the Socialist Party of the Canary Islands won the elections and agreed with Nueva Canarias, Unidas Podemos and Gomera Socialist Group. To prevent the PSOE from governing, he proposed a pact to the Popular Party of the Canary Islands, Ciudadanos and ASG. Later he offered the government of the Canary Islands to the PP, but it was rejected. It is currently the main opposition party.

In the 2019 European Parliament Elections, it is presented within the Coalition for a Solidarity Europe, which includes the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Compromiso por Galicia (CG), Proposta per les Illes (PI) and Demòcrates Valencians (DV).

Current mayors (2019)

Canary Coalition governed in several very important Canary Islands municipalities such as San Cristóbal de La Laguna and Santa Cruz de Tenerife before the May 26 elections, however the policies of pacts after these elections made this party move away from the local power in many relevant municipalities due to their demographic size. He currently governs the fourth most populous city in the Canary Islands, Telde, in addition to this mayor's office other important municipalities such as La Orotava or Granadilla de Abona. In total there are 19 of 88 municipalities in which it governs, without having any mayor's office in La Gomera or El Hierro and only one in Gran Canaria (Telde). Since July 13, 2020, thanks to a motion of no confidence, he has ruled again in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Election results

Municipal elections

Island councils

^to8 more counselors with AHI.
^bIn coalition with the PNC.
^c6 more directors with the AHI.

Autonomous

^aMore 2 in coalition with Agrupación Herreña Independiente.
^bIn coalition with the PNC.
^cIn coalition with the PNC and CCN.
^dMás 1 in coalition with Agrupación Herreña Independiente.
^eMás 2 in coalition with Agrupación Herreña Independiente.

General

General: Congress of Deputies (Provincial District)

^ain coalition with the PNC and the PIL.
^bin coalition with the PNC and the NC.

General: Senate: Insular Circumscription

^ain coalition with the PNC and the PIL.
^bin coalition with the PNC and NC.
^cin coalition with the AHI-CC.

European

General elections in Spain in November 2019

The Canarian Coalition is presenting itself in these elections in coalition with Nueva Canarias, the Canarian Nationalist Party and the Canarian Nationalist Center

Controversies

Interventions in the Congress of Deputies

Ana Oramas is one of the most recognized politicians of this party, currently and since the 2008 elections she has been the spokesperson for her political party in the Congress of Deputies. However, her popularity has increased in recent years with several interventions that have been controversial. In the 2019 budget debate, the deputy criticized the intervention of the finance minister, María Jesús Montero from Seville, saying verbatim: "What a meeting, Madam Minister, this is not the 3000 homes in Seville, but the Congress of Deputies", her words led to criticism in networks of thousands of people, considering her "classist". The nationalist deputy finally retracted and promised to go to the Seville neighborhood, which she did on 14 March. In the 2017 motion of no confidence presented by Pablo Iglesias against the president at that time, Mariano Rajoy, he strongly criticized the candidate for the motion, beginning his speech by saying: "I know you don't like the non-submissive women", words that caused booing on the bench of Podemos. In addition, when the oral vote took place, Oramas said in a very humorous tone: Well no!, instead of voting for a yes, no or abstention. The last controversy of the deputy occurred in the face of the investiture of the socialist Pedro Sánchez in January 2020, his party, Coalición Canaria, requested the abstention for the candidate, however he ignored his party, and voted against. This earned him a fine from her party.

Corruption cases

Throughout their 30-year history, they have recorded several cases of corruption, especially urban corruption. The most popular case has been the Case of Las Teresitas, an urban plot that condemned the former mayor of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Miguel Zerolo, this meant that the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo Batlle, leader of the nationalist party, apologized. In La Orotava, two cases of corruption that led to the conviction of the former nationalist mayor, Isaac Valencia, are remembered: the Atlante case and the El Trompo case.

Failed tribute to the terrorist Antonio Cubillo of the municipal group of Santa Cruz

In 2013, the municipal group of Santa Cruz promoted a tribute and the naming of a public space to Antonio Cubillo, leader of the MPAIAC. This was denounced by the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) and was also rejected by the AVT. The proposal was rejected by the majority of the councilors of the Santa Cruz city council. In addition, in the 2011 island council elections and the Canary Islands parliament in 2007, 2011 and 2015, he ran alongside the PNC, which in 2012 described Cubillo as a martyr.

Possible parties with which you are negotiating to run together in the next elections

• Inside Coalition Canaria:
  • Independent groups of the Canary Islands (AIC)
  • Izquierda Nacionalista Canaria (INC)
  • Major Assembly (AM)
  • Independent Herreña Group
  • Independents of Coalition Canaria
• Outside of the Canary Coalition:
  • Canario Nationalist Party
  • New Canary Islands
  • Nationalist Canary Centre formerly called: Independent Canary Centre (CCI), predecessor of the Canary Centre (CCN)
  • Municipal Assemblies of Fuerteventura
  • Socialist a car
  • Agrupación de Gomera Independientes
  • Partido de Independientes de Lanzarote
  • Independent of Fuerteventura