Loli Benlloch | València (EFE) the population, 2.3 million inhabitants in total.
Of these fifteen municipalities (5 from the province of Valencia, 8 from Alicante and 2 from Castellón), the PSPV-PSOE has eleven mayoralties, the PP with three and Compromís with one, and they reach the municipal elections on May 28 in this situation:
Province of Valencia: Valencia and Torrent
The capital of the Valencian Community, Valencia, is the ‘jewel in the crown’ that everyone covets, for being the third largest city in Spain (792,492 inhabitants) and for its weight in the results of the regional elections. The polls suggest that it will again be very close: in 2019, the difference between the PSPV and Compromís block and that of the PP, Cs and Vox was 355 votes and one mayor.
The mayor since 2015, Joan Ribó (Compromís), aspires at the age of 75 to a third term at the head of a progressive coalition government and to ensure that his formation repeats as the most voted, while the vice mayor Sandra Gómez will try for a second time to recover for the socialists the mayoralty that they lost in 1991.
28M is also the second attempt by the PP candidate, former Minister María José Catalá, who could govern with the support of Vox, while Ciudadanos will fight against bad electoral omens and Podem will try to return to the Consistory.
In Torrent (85,142 inhabitants) the socialist Jesús Ros, after 25 years as mayor (from 1987 to 2004 and since 2015) is running for re-election, a position that the PP candidate, Amparo Folgado, mayor from 2012 to 2015, will try to wrest from him, when Catalá, who became mayor in 2007, was appointed councillor. The difference between the two parties four years ago was 13 points in favor of the first.
The 28M in Gandia, Paterna and Sagunto
In Gandia (75,911 inhabitants), the Socialists are seeking their third term, after Diana Morant seized the mayoralty from the PP in 2015. His replacement in the mayor’s office after being appointed minister, José Manuel Prieto, will face the signing of the PP in Gandia: the former minister and former government delegate Juan Carlos Moragues, who will try to raise the command rod that his party had between 2011 and 2015 .
In Paterna (71,880 inhabitants), the socialist Juan Antonio Sagredo, mayor since 2015, when his party ousted the PP as the most voted, the 28M aspires to a third term and to expand the support of the 47.7% of four years ago, while that the businesswoman Sara Palma is the trump card of the PP to try to recover the mayoralty that they had from 2007 to 2015.
In Sagunto (68,066 inhabitants), the town chosen by Volkswagen to install the first gigafactory of batteries for electric cars in southern Europe, the socialist Darío Moreno, mayor since 2019, when he unseated Compromís as the most voted, repeats as a candidate and seeks increase its seven councilors, while in the PP the councilor Maribel Sáez aspires to recover a rod of command that they had from 2007 to 2015.
The province of Alicante, with Alicante, Elche and Torrevieja
In the capital of Alicante (338,577 inhabitants), where the PP has held the mayoralty since 1995 with the three-year hiatus as socialist mayor (2015-2018) which ended with a motion of no confidence, the PP counts again with Luis Barcala, mayor since 2018 and who has governed with Ciudadanos. The left has renewed all its candidates and in the case of the PSPV it has opted for the 28M for the trustee in Les Corts and former Minister of Health, Ana Barceló.
In Elche (235,580, the fourth city of the Region), the socialists, who have governed since 1979 with the exception of the 2011-2015 period, when the PP did, once again trust Carlos González, mayor since 2015 with the support of Compromís and that this legislature has had 12 of the 27 mayors. The bet of the PP is the senator Pablo Ruz, who will try to shorten the distance of ten points with the PSPV of 2019.
In Torrevieja (83,547 inhabitants), the PP, which has governed since 1988 with the parenthesis of the 2015-2019 legislature, when Los Verdes did, once again trusts Eduardo Dolón, mayor for four years with an absolute majority. The mayor of the Socialists, who have had difficulties naming a candidate, is Bárbara Soler, as an independent.
Orihuela, Benidorm, San Vicent del Raspeig, Alcoy and Elda
Orihuela (80,784 inhabitants) has had a socialist mayor for a year, Carolina Gracia, who ousted the popular Emilio Bascuñana in a motion of no confidence after seven years in government and is running for re-election. The PP, which in 2019 took almost eleven points from the PSPV, has appointed a new candidate, Pepe Vergara, against whom an oral trial has been opened for two alleged crimes against the public Treasury.
In Benidorm (69,738 inhabitants), the mayor since 2015, Antonio Pérez (PP), is running for a third term in which he will try to revalidate the absolute majority and widen the distance of eight points with the Socialists, whose candidate is Cristina Escoda.
With regard to Sant Vicent del Raspeig (59,138 residents), the mayor since 2015, the socialist Jesús Villar, who ended three and a half legislatures of the PP government and who in 2019 doubled the popular votes, is going for his third term this 28M, while the PP has opted for the Ciudadanos exporter Pachi Pascual to head the list.
In Alcoy (58,960 inhabitants) the mayor, the socialist Toni Francés, who in 2011 put an end to three PP legislatures, aspires to his fourth term and even expand his majority, since he currently has 12 of the 25 plenary councilors. The PP has a new candidate, Carlos Pastor.
And in Elda (52,297 inhabitants), the mayor, the socialist Rubén Alfaro, is also seeking his third term after, in this, his party has had 10 of the 25 seats in the plenary session. The PP, which governed from 2007 to 2015, hopes to do so again with a new candidate, Paco Sánchez (previous candidate for Ciudadanos, while the previous candidate for the PP, Francisco Muñoz, is now that of Cs).
Castellón de la Plana and Vila-real on 28M in the province of Castellón
In the capital of La Plana (171,857 inhabitants), the socialist Amparo Marco, mayor since 2015, when she put an end to 24 years of PP governments with the support of Compromís and Unides Podem, is presenting 28M for the third time with the aim of to be the most voted force again. In the PP the mayor will again be Begoña Carrasco.
And in Vila-real (51,369 residents), the socialist José Benlloch, mayor since 2011 after sixteen years of PP governments, aspires to his fourth term and to revalidate his absolute majority, which a new PP candidate, Adrián Casabó, will try to wrest from him.