EH Bildu and PSN agree on a motion of censure against Cristina Ibarrola in the Pamplona City Council

The opposition parties of the Pamplona City Council (EH Bildu, PSN, Geroa Bai and Contigo Navarra) have agreed on a motion of censure against the mayor Cristina Ibarrola (UPN), and, barring any surprises, Joseba Asiron (EH Bildu ) ever do that. becoming mayor of the Navarrese capital again – since he was the first mayor during the 2015-2019 legislature -.

The spokesperson of EH Bildu in the Pamplona City Council, Joseba Asiron, registered the motion of censure in the Pamplona City Council on Wednesday. The motion of censure will be ratified during an extraordinary plenary session scheduled for the following day December 28.

The contents of the agreement will be announced this morning during a press conference. EH Bildu called the media at 11:30 am and Joseba Asiron and Miren Zabaleta will attend the meeting. The PSN performance, in turn, starts at 12:30 p.m.

The mayor of Pamplona had planned an event for 9 a.m., which was ultimately postponed.

The possibility of a censure motion has always been in the air since Cristina Ibarrola became mayor.

Koldo Martínez (Geroa Bai): “It’s a four-way agreement”

Geroa Bai’s spokesperson in the Pamplona City Council, ​​Koldo Martínez, has emphasized this “It is an agreement between four, four groups, sixteen council members”. In his opinion, things are done brewing these days, but “It is an agreement that Iruña’s progressive majority had already called for”.

10:22

The PSOE denies having agreed on the censure motion with EH Bildu in Pamplona before Sánchez’s inauguration

The PSOE spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, denied on Wednesday that his party had agreed with EH Bildu to table a motion of censure in Pamplona before Pedro Sánchez’s inauguration.

In statements in Congress, he justified the motion of censure and emphasized that the Pamplona City Council is too “paralysed” because there is a government team in charge “cannot reach an agreement with anyone” and that it has not adopted a budget for three years.

Javier Esparza (UPN): “It is clear that the PSOE has been negotiating the future of Navarre with members of ETA”

The chairman of UPN, Javier Esparza, believes so “It is clear that the PSOE has been negotiating the future of Navarre with members of ETA”. After learning of the motion of censure in the Pamplona City Council, the regionalist leader has indicated on the social network “Handing Pamplona over to the EH Bildu terrorists is the last thing Sánchez, Chivite, Cerdán and Alzorriz missed”.

Results of the May municipal elections

The candidate of the Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), Cristina Ibarrola, was elected mayor of Pamplona after topping the list with the most votes in the last elections, despite not receiving more than 11 points of support in the vote (9 from UPN and 2 from PP) of the 27 seats in the plenary. EH Bildu obtained 8 and its candidate, Asiron, ran for the position of mayor, but the PSN (5) voted blank, which facilitated the proclamation as mayor of Ibarrola.

Now the motion of censure of December 28 requires the mandatory ‘yes’ from the PSN for Asiron to return to the position of mayor.

For his return, Asiron must receive the positive vote of the 8 councilors of EH Bildu, the 5 of PSN and a third partner who provides them with another councilor, such as Geroa Bai (2) or Contigo Navarra (1).

The amount must yield an absolute majority in favor of Asiron at least fourteen council members. UPN (9) and PP (2) would remain in opposition.

First motion of censure on democracy in the Pamplona City Council

So far, the mayors elected to govern the municipal council of the capital of Navarre since the first municipal elections of democracy in 1979 have been able to fulfill their mandates.

Julián Balduz (PSN) was mayor from 1979 to 1983 and also from 1983 to 1987. The next mayor, Javier Chourraut, from UPN, was from 1987 to 1991 and Alfredo Jaime, also from the regionalist formation, from 1991 to 1995. Javier Chourraut was mayor again from 1995 to 1999, this time for CDN.

After him came three legislatures governed in Pamplona by Yolanda Barcina, from UPN, (1999-2003; 2003-2007; 2007-2011). After Barcina’s departure, a new legislature was created led by UPN, in this case by Enrique Maya (2011-2015).

EH Bildu became mayor of the city in 2015, together with Joseba Asiron (2015-2019). In 2019, Navarra Suma with Enrique Maya (UPN) at the helm again took over the mayoralty, which has been taken over by Cristina Ibarrola from UPN since June 2023.