In 2022 the Alicante Provincial Assembly marked its 200th anniversary with a year packed full of events, the culminating gathering bringing together one hundred mayors from Alicante’s municipalities. The bicentennial night highlighted the institution’s usefulness and offered a retrospective on milestones that shaped its long history.
The current president of the Diputación, Carlos Mazón, chaired the commemorative program, underscoring the institution as a central challenge of this century for the region. Depopulation remains a pressing issue, with 88 of the province’s 141 towns recording populations below 10,000 residents. Mazón framed the path forward as a plan against depopulation, emphasizing investments and subsidies to stimulate growth.
Throughout the year, commemorative actions reinforced the Diputación’s role. A notable event took place in the gardens of the Provincial Palace, described by the Diputación as more useful than ever. Earlier, a gathering at Club INFORMACIÓN last November featured Antonio Mira-Perceval alongside Mazón to discuss the institution’s impact on Alicante’s life since the return of democracy.
Antonio Mira-Perceval, who led the provincial organization during the early democratic era from 1991 to 1995, helped illustrate the enduring importance of the Provincial General Assembly. The province’s population under 20,000 underlines the need for a strong, locally rooted council that can address diverse regional realities while maintaining its essential identity.
Over 200 years, the Alicante institution has confronted a succession of challenges. In recent years, droughts have worsened by other crises such as drought-related events in Baja, summer fires, the pandemic, and the ongoing turmoil in Europe, all contributing to inflation and energy pressures. Yet the assembly has also delivered substantial achievements—investments in health infrastructure, including hospitals in Sant Joan d’Alacant and Orihuela, and cultural landmarks like the ADDA in Alicante. The Diputación’s distinctive strength lies in its ability to coordinate between municipalities of divergent sizes and needs, ensuring that the voices of smaller towns are heard alongside those of larger cities. In this complex ecosystem, the Provincial General Assembly remains a unifying body that represents residents across the province without losing its core mission.
since 1822
The establishment of provincial councils in Spain traces back to the Cádiz Constitution of 1812, though practical implementation faced delays caused by the War of Independence and subsequent restorations of absolutism. Alicante’s Provincial Council began operations in 1822 during the Liberal Triennium, opening its sessions in May at the City Hall. Francisco Fernandez Golf, the first president, led the assembly during its early period. A liberal politician renowned for his parliamentary activity, Fernandez Golf faced political peril when absolutism returned and he was imprisoned for a time. His career illustrates the province’s turbulent early history and the resilience of its institutions.
In the decades that followed, efforts to create a dedicated building for the Provincial Assembly culminated under Manuel Gomez Valdivia, who continued the project when he led the presidency from 1899 to 1901. The palace’s design was entrusted to architect Juan Vidal Ramos, built along the extension of Alfonso X el Sabio street and completed in 1931 with Franklin Albricias as the first president of the new palace era.
107 presidents
Across two centuries, the Alicante Provincial Council has been led by 107 presidents, with Luisa Pastor the only woman to hold the post. Earlier leaders included Ramón Llopis Agulló, who served as vice-president of the Provincial Assembly in 1936 and briefly chaired it in the late 1930s, later living in exile after exile policies. During the Franco era, several presidents guided the institution, including José Martínez Alejos, who focused on resuming artistic exhibitions and expanding regional connectivity and health infrastructure. The later transitional period saw leaders such as Manuel Monzon Meseguer and Jorge Silvestre guiding the council as democracy reestablished its footing in 1976.
From 1978 onward, a sequence of presidents—José Cerdán, Luis Díaz Alperi, Antonio Fernández Valenzuela, Antonio Mira-Perceval, Julio de España, José Joaquín Ripoll, Luisa Pastor, César Sánchez, and Carlos Mazón—shaped the province’s trajectory. The bicentennial year served as a moment to reflect on the enduring value of local governance and the ongoing work of bringing together municipalities across Alicante to improve lives for residents in both large and small communities, with a clear eye on the future and the lessons of a rich, two-century-long history.