Villena’s PP faces a leadership crisis with three resignations in one week. Specifically, councilors Pepe Hernández and Natalia Coloma, along with local executive assistant secretary Maria Garcia-Galbis, have stepped away. The upcoming plenary meeting this Thursday will open with the formal resignation announcements from the mayor’s Popular Municipal Group members Pepe Hernández and Natalia Coloma to date.
These early resignations signal that other councilors and party leaders in Villena may follow suit in the near term.
Carlos Mazón’s decision to appoint the current city spokesperson and PP secretary general in Villena as mayor brought Pepe Hernandez in. He announced his resignation last week, effective immediately, stepping down as head of the PP in Villena and as a member of parliament. He attributed his decision to a lack of support and trust from the government. The executive committee of the Valencian Community PP, led by Carlos Mazón, acknowledged the move despite Hernández having led the party as mayoral candidate in the 2019 election with 5,053 votes and seven of the 21 mayoralties.
“As a result, I make this decision with the aim of leaving the party. I am grateful for the hard work and dedication that helped develop our city, which was always my sole purpose. I extend thanks to the people who have supported and respected me,” he said in a brief statement that resonated with this newspaper.
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Natalia Coloma, who took third place on the PP electoral list in the 2019 elections, announced her resignation from parliament in solidarity with Pepe Hernández. She explained that being a council member in his hometown is a privilege that carries both beauty and difficulty. Internal party events have prompted her decision to act with greater consistency and honesty about her principles. She submitted her resignation as a council member today and thanked colleagues, party members, and supporters who have stood by her in the municipal group over the years. She expressed sincere thanks to those who trusted her more than three years ago, calling it a privilege to represent residents of Villena.
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It was only in June that Pepe Hernández was named president of the Villena PP and Miguel Ángel Salguero was appointed general secretary. The local leadership decided to organize its political action into four areas — region and environment, society and culture, economy, and organization — with a deputy secretary overseeing each. Specifically, María José Hernández coordinated regional and surrounding matters; Daniel Domene led Economic Development; Mari Carmen Martínez Clemor became the new head of the organization; and María García-Galbis took charge of the socio-cultural field. Garcia-Galbis later announced she would leave her post, citing that the approach to her role did not align with her own values. The regional leadership of the PP did not approve Pepe Hernández as a candidate for mayor of Villena.
Hernández himself had proposed García-Galbis as part of the project aimed at seizing the Villena mayoralty from the PSOE-Los Verdes government. He added that circumstances have changed and that honesty and loyalty must prevail over personal interest. He expressed that he would resign for the reasons stated and wished success to the candidate chosen for the role.