Neighbours' Alternative (; AV) is a left-wing political party initially active in the Comarca of A Coruña, Galicia that has since expanded to the broader province of A Coruña, as well as to Pontevedra.
History The party was formed in 1979 by citizen associations of the 9 parroquias of Oleiros to run for the 1979 local elections (the first democratic ones since the Spanish Second Republic in the 1930s). The associations considered that the municipality had chronic problems of pollution, lack of schools, lack of urban planning and privatization of public services.A nosa historia AV won a landslide, with 4,113 votes (65.81% of the total) in the election. José Luis Martínez Suárez became the mayor of the municipality. In the 1983 elections the party suffered a setback, gaining only 5 seats and losing the mayor to the Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG). AV won the elections again in 1987, and has won every single municipal election in Oleiros since then. Ángel "Gelo" García Seoane has been the mayor of the municipality since 2003. Between 1996 and 2003 the mayor was Esther Pita Pita (Seona was disqualified to hold public office during those years).José Luís Jiménez: Gelo contra todos o contra si mismo. ABC, 15/05/2007. Seoane had also been the mayor between 1987 and 1995. Prior to the 2015 local elections the party expanded its presence outside of Oleiros, to all the Comarca of A Coruña. In those elections AV presented lists in 3 municipalities: Culleredo (won 3 seats), Arteixo (no representation) and A Coruña (no representation).Local elections results in the Province of A Coruña. El País, 2015. AV wants to expand its presence to more municipalities before the 2019 municipal elections.Alternativa dos Veciños intentará entrar en el próximo gobierno de A Coruña. La Opinión de A Coruña, 07/10/2017.
Ideology and government
The ideology of the party is based on left-wing politics and direct democracy. AV also supports anti-imperialist movements in Latin America (mainly the Cuban revolution) and Palestine.Un alcalde bolivariano en el pueblo de los ricos. El Mundo, 17/12/2015.Oleiros reclama justicia para Palestina. La Voz de Galicia, 24/03/2017.Gala artística y pasacalles en solidaridad con Palestina hoy en Santa Cruz. La Opinión de A Coruña, 28/10/2017. The mayor of Oleiros is supporter of Fidel Castro, that was declared an honorary councilor of the municipality in 1984,Oleiros pierde a su concejal Fidel. La Opinión de A Coruña, 29/11/2016. and the municipality has a statue of Che Guevara.
Oleiros is also known for its urban planning, with a wide range of social services and public facilities: gyms and swimming pools, a network of libraries, centers for the elderly, playgrounds, green spaces, auditoriums, houses of municipal property that are given free to neighbors to organize parties and birthdays and artificial turf football fields. Oleiros, el municipio más rico de Galicia donde la derecha vota a un alcalde que venera al Che Guevara. Público, 31/10/2016. Oleiros has the higher indexes of social housing and green spaces per inhabitant of all Galicia.Oleiros, el municipio más rico de Galicia donde la derecha vota a un alcalde que venera al Che Guevara. Público, 31/10/2016.El extraño caso de Oleiros. La Opinión de A Coruña, 12/10/2016.
Organization AV has a Monitoring Committee, an Executive Committee and permanent councils in the 9 parishes of the municipality. The party has a system of primary elections in which candidates are previously chosen by the parish assemblies of the party, to guarantee that all parishes have representation in the final list. The 30 elected candidates (3 for each parish) then run in an open primary election. 3,119 (11,8% of the registered voters of the municipality) people participated in the 2015 primaries.Alternativa dos Veciños publica los resultados de sus primarias. La Opinión de A Coruña, 09/02/2015.
People who are elected as council members are controlled by the Executive Committee. This system of citizen involvement in municipal management is also reflected in the participatory budget of the municipal council, in which the local citizen entities of each of the 9 parishes take part.Oleiros inició las consultas con las entidades sociales para lograr un «presupuesto participativo». La Voz de Galicia, 22/09/2003.Más allá de las ciudades en crisis. Diagonal, 07/07/2014.
Election results ElectionMunicipal council of Oleiros Votes % Position Seats +/– 1979Resultados municipales 1979 65.81 1º New 1983Resultados municipales 1983 26.38 2º 7 1987Resultados municipales 1987 40.46 1º 3 1991Resultados municipales 1991 53.20 1º 2 1995 42.53 1º 1 1999 41.22 1º 2003Resultados municipales 2003 45.40 1º 1 2007Resultados municipales 2007 37.37 1º 1 2011Resultados municipales 2011 48.47 1º 3 2015Resultados municipales 2015 60.61 1º 3 2019Resultados municipales 2019 58.71 1º 120239,27454.281º
ElectionMunicipal council of Culleredo Votes % Position Seats +/– 2015Resultados municipales 2015 13.94 3º New 2019Resultados municipales 2019 11.55 4º 20231.49110.664º1
ElectionMunicipal council of Arteixo Votes % Position Seats +/– 2015 4.52 5º New 2019 6.50 4º 120239746.814º=
ElectionCity council of A Coruña Votes % Position Seats +/– 2015 1.54 7º New 2019Resultados municipales 2019 2.33 6º 20232,5462.27º
ElectionMunicipal council of Cambre Votes % Position Seats +/– 2019Resultados municipales 2019 8.71 5º New20231,18210.195º=
ElectionMunicipal council of Sada Votes % Position Seats +/– 2019Resultados municipales 2019 9.28 5º New20234024.896º2
ElectionMunicipal council of Carral Votes % Position Seats +/– 2019Resultados municipales 2019 37.98 1º New20231.89648.141º2
ElectionMunicipal council of Bergondo Votes % Position Seats +/– 2019Resultados municipales 2019 19.37 3º New202382821.073º1
References
External links Official website Official Twitter