L'Alqueria d'Asnar Residents Demand Mayor's Resignation Amidst Paralysis

The neighborhood movement denounces the municipal paralysis, lack of a qualified secretary, and stalled projects, demanding accountability for the administration.

Generic image of a municipal building with a balcony and iron railings under the afternoon sunlight.
IA

Generic image of a municipal building with a balcony and iron railings under the afternoon sunlight.

The neighborhood movement of L'Alqueria d'Asnar has once again called for the resignation of Mayor César Palmer, citing the institutional paralysis affecting the municipality since November, and denouncing severe deficiencies in administrative and economic management.

The neighborhood collective has publicly denounced the situation, highlighting that after four months, they still lack a qualified secretary-intervener and have an acting secretary whose illegality has already been warned by the General Directorate of Local Administration. "It's becoming increasingly difficult to believe this is all just an unfortunate coincidence, as we're starting to memorize the pattern: they announce we have a new secretary, create anticipation, and then errors, rejections, and missed deadlines return. Meanwhile, the town remains the same: blocked," they state.
In a statement, they add that "most seriously, we continue with an economic and institutional situation stalled and hindered by unapproved budgets, the pending 2025 liquidation, paralyzed procedures, lost subsidies, and a state of great legal uncertainty publicly denounced by the opposition." Therefore, they emphasize that "residents want to know who has been overseeing and legally and financially reviewing the Town Hall these months and who has been validating contracts, procedures, and payments." They stress that "if the mayor has a legal advisor hired precisely to review these matters and this is not the first time it has happened, shouldn't he assume responsibility?".
From the neighborhood movement, they insist that "the most worrying thing is that there is an alternative offered by the Provincial Council to provisionally cover the functions of Secretary-Intervention and unblock the situation, which the Town Hall did not accept." They question why and highlight that "perhaps because the person proposed by the Provincial Council is the one who brought to light possible financial irregularities related to movements totaling 1,625 euros and 6,300 euros from the swimming pool's cash box, as well as the justification and return of 450 euros unduly collected; matters that are reported to the Court of Auditors and about which the mayor's office continues to provide no public explanation".
This neighborhood collective insists that "perhaps what is happening in L'Alqueria demonstrates that something in the system fails when a single person governs alone, as it allows a town to remain paralyzed for months." "The opposition's questions remain unanswered, plenary sessions are not convened normally, the participation days so promised by the champion of transparency have been forgotten, and the list of broken promises grows daily: tennis courts, refurbishment of parking spaces, dance group, security cameras, traffic and citizenship ordinances, participatory budgets, access ramps… A legacy that any public official should be more than ashamed of. L'Alqueria deserves functioning institutions that respect democracy".
For their part, the Socialist Municipal Group of L'Alqueria d'Asnar has filed a petition with the Town Hall demanding that the mayor immediately request the circumstantial commission offered by the Provincial Council of Alicante to cover the functions of Secretary-Intervention and "put an end to an unsustainable situation of institutional blockage." For the PSPV, the latest statements from both the Ministry of Public Function and the Generalitat Valenciana "expose the failure of the mayor's management in this matter." Socialist councilor Andreu Ripoll states that "the excuses have run out. All the avenues the mayor intended to use have failed, and now the only option is to adopt the solution that the Provincial Council of Alicante has put on the table".
According to the PSPV's complaint, the lack of a secretary "is causing a genuine administrative paralysis that is seriously harming the interests of the municipality and its residents." The socialists reiterate that "the Town Hall continues without a budgetary liquidation, without a municipal budget for 2026, and with numerous stalled procedures." Furthermore, "local associations continue to be unable to collect their corresponding municipal subsidies, while strategic projects such as the construction of the new school suffer inadmissible delays due to the lack of administrative processing".
The PSPV also denounces that the absence of a secretary "prevents the normal legal validation of many municipal procedures, generating a situation of legal insecurity that should not occur in any public administration." "The problem is no longer the lack of solutions. The problem is the lack of political will to implement them. The Provincial Council has offered a quick and viable solution, and the mayor continues to fail to take the necessary measures to unblock the Town Hall," affirms Ripoll.