Why didn't CLARO work with the other parties!

I posted a copy of the article ‘LOS VERDES First Surgery in Orihuela Costa is a Success!’ onto the forum on the torrevieja.co.uk website and received the following comment from a contributor to the site.

“I happen to support CLARO, but appreciate the good work Los Verdes are trying to achieve. It's a shame that there is so much friction between CLARO and Los Verdes, when the useless, some might say corrupt, PP and the not much better PSOE, dominate the political landscape in the region as a whole, if not on the coast.

The PP must love to see this situation. But that's politics for you I guess, and why people find it a turn off, despite the obvious mismanagement of the coast. Time for the two parties to start working together me thinks - but I doubt that will ever happen.”

The reply I posted was as follows, and can be seen at http://www.sonparc.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33125 , and as the original article is on this Blog I thought it should be repeated here.

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Thank you for your compliment about the work Los Verdes is doing.

On the question of the leaders of CLARO working with Los Verdes, or any other elected political party in the Orihuela Municipality, I would suggest you perhaps should direct this question to them.

Los Verdes of Orihuela is part of Los Verdes del Pais Valenciano, which in turn is part of Los Verdes España, which is part of the European Greens group. At all these levels Los Verdes work with other elected political parties where there is need to do so on a common issue of agreement.

At a local level the Councillors of the official opposition parties of Los Verdes, PSOE, and CLR have a very good day to day working relationship. In many cases where there is agreement on an issue a joint press conference is held and/or a joint press release issued by the three parties (examples in La Verdad and Diario Information ). This shows that Los Verdes of Orihuela have demonstrated by actions a willingness to work with other credible parties on matters of joint agreement whilst at all times maintaining the independent identity of the party.

In the latter part of 2006 the leaders of CLARO decided to start their own party as an independent political force because they said no other established party was interested in, or representing, the needs of the Orihuela Costa area. If they had wanted to work together with an existing political party, to improve the quality of life for the residents of the coast, that was the time to start.

LOS VERDES have been working hard for the citizens of the Orihuela district, including the Orihuela Costa area since 2003, when they were first established in this locality, and will continue to do so in the future. If I may, I would draw your attention to the following web page http://www.losverdesdeorihuela.net/?p=199 which lists the requests and interventions made to the Council by LOS VERDES through its Councillor Monserrate Guillén during the 2003 – 2006 period, specifically in respect of the Orihuela Costa area.

Had the instigators of CLARO wanted to work with Los Verdes for the benefit of the residents of Orihuela Costa, October 2006 was the time to start. But no, for their own, perhaps personal, political agenda, they chose to go it alone. They chose to fight the election in May 2007 with a Manifesto that copied many of the same objectives as that in the Los Verdes document. They chose to fight the election on an independent ticket, when they must have realised that under the D’Hondt system of proportional representation that operates in Spain, with very little chance of reaching the 5% minimum level of votes needed to be elected.

The result was that because the leaders of CLARO chose not to work with Los Verdes or PSOE, or CLR, alternative parties to the PP, they wasted the votes of the residents who voted for CLARO, and allowed the PP to continue to rule and mismanage the Orihuela Municipality, to the detriment of Orihuela Costa.

“The PP must love to see this situation” (repeat of section of quote above)

Of course they do because they were able to retain power whereas they thought they might not.

The presence of CLARO, and their unwillingness to work with, or within the well established other political parties, caused the opposite effect to that which it stated was one of the reasons for its existence!

As I said at the start of my post, you must look to the leaders of the party you support for the answers!

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In hindsight perhaps I should have added the comment 'There is the saying divide and conquer and it's certainly true; Claro unnecessarily divided the anti PP vote so the PP conquered' to the reply.