Complex political alliances in the Canary Islands ahead of Spanish vote

Two main own Canarian parties break 2011 agreement, run separately to Dec 20 election · Canary Coalition argues only Canarian national list is theirs after New Canarias enters alliance agreement with PSOE

20.11.201511.15h

Two main Canary Islands' own parties Canarian Coalition (CC) and New Canarias (NC) will be running separately to the December 20th Spanish legislative election after both decided to pursue different alliance strategies. CC will be running alone while NC has entered into an alliance agreement with the Spanish Socialists (PSOE). The decision seems contradictory to the political scenario in the Canarian government, where CC and PSOE form a joint coalition while NC is in opposition.

In the 2011 election, both parties ran in a joint alliance which got 2 seats in the Spanish Parliament's 350-member lower chamber or Congreso.

CC are blaming NC of political inconsistency because of its choice to join PSOE, a party that does not acknowledge any national attributes to the Canary Islands. But on the other hand, NC argue that CC are inconsistent too, since the party has a history of striking deals at the Spanish level with Spain's main conservative and unionist party PP, which does not recognize the Canarians as a nation either.

The Canarian Coalition says it will put in place the only "Canarian nationalist candidacy" capable of advancing the interests of the archipelago in the Spanish Parliament. CC candidate Ana Oramas argues it is important for Canarians to have her party in a good bargaining position in Madrid since this could open the door to more positive stances from the Spanish government towards the islands, in the likelihood that no Spanish party has an absolute majority in the next term.

Oramas's party furthermore believes the new political scenario in Spain could open the door for the acceptance, by the Spanish Parliament, of a reform on the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands, which the Canarian legislature passed in March 2015. Even more, CC say the islands could get a "special status" within a "federal" Spain if the Spanish Constitution is amended over the next term.

Canary Islands "standing out" after constitutional reform

Meanwhile, New Canarias hold that they continue to be a Canarian "nationalist and progressive" party even if they have joined PSOE for the upcoming election. Besides, if any of the NC candidates is elected on Dec 20, they will not be joining the Socialist group, but will be independently sitting in the mixed group.

NC leader Román Rodríguez says it is "very important that Spain's next president is [PSOE leader] Pedro Sánchez." Both NC and PSOE, Rodríguez argues, "share something essential: [the goal of] a constitutional reform in which the Canary Islands can stand out."

Opinion polls say CC could this time be obtaining 1-2 MPs, while the PSOE-NC alliance could secure 3-4 seats, one of which would be an NC candidate.