Móstoles is candy for Isabel Díaz Ayuso. It is the second most populated city in the region, with 214,000 inhabitants, and one of its most celebrated conquests after the 2023 elections, in which the PP of the Community of Madrid set the goal of, with Móstoles as the jackpot. He achieved it in this and several other key municipalities, but with a footnote: the Popular Party would have to govern with Vox. Thus, Manuel Bautista, a man without a renowned political career in the city and the region, became mayor thanks to the formation of Santiago Abascal, with a pact that was strong during the first three years of the legislature. Now, after accusations of sexual and workplace harassment by the councilor against a mayor from Mostol, which the party covered up, the far-right group is asking Bautista to resign and considers it “unheard of” that he has not already done so. This harshness might be surprising, given that it is a colleague in the municipal executive, but 15 days before the accusations were made public, the pact between Vox and PP was blown up after weeks of constant friction.
It all starts with a name, Daniel Martín, one of the three Vox councilors in the Móstoles City Council. In the 28-M elections, the PP did not achieve an absolute majority by two councilors, they obtained 12 of the total of 27 that were elected. After that, it was decided that the person in charge of the Culture area would be Martín. Until January 9 of this year. That day, the councilor leaves the party and becomes a non-attached councilor due to “consistency with his principles.” In a statement sent to the residents, he talks about the fact that the formation with which he entered the municipal government did not do politics for the city and only sought “protagonism.” In one of the plenary sessions, it is harder:
― Vox, the party that Móstoles uses for his ideological obsessions, his seasonal phobias. It is a scam, it rewards those who obey without question and punishes those who have critical thinking. Backstabbing, tripping, they’re not going to silence me.
The clash with his colleagues is total and they ask the PP to remove him as culture councilor and for the next member on the list to take over. The Popular Party promises that it will do so, although after several important events in the capital. Vox attacks Bautista, whom they accuse of protecting a turncoat and weakening the party, and what was a solid pact in one of the strongholds conquered by the regional PP is beginning to crack.
The Vox spokesperson in the Móstoles City Council, Nieva Machín, considers that keeping Martín in the government meant breaking the coalition pact. When the PP removed the councilor from his position, six days later, the cultural competitions were left up in the air. That dismissal was announced by Bautista in an appearance with Alfonso Serrano, Ayuso’s strong man and directly and professionally to the mayor of Mostoleña. Then begins a crossroads of accusations about municipal arithmetic, control of the story and who assumes what portfolio. Vox is increasingly harsh towards the PP and the PP is closing ranks in the face of criticism from the far-right party.
The complete breakup came in the form of an Instagram video. Machín, accompanied by the provincial president of Vox Madrid, José Antonio Fúster, the spokesperson for the Madrid Assembly, Isabel Pérez Moñino, as well as other members of the party, consider the government pact definitively broken and say that they have become “the toughest opposition that has ever existed in Móstoles.” Bautista goes from teammate and figure present in photos shared on networks to political opponent.
Machín – who defines Bautista as someone “disloyal” and who “does not speak the truth” – has joined the calls for the mayor’s resignation, following the accusations of sexual and workplace harassment that the PP tried to cover up, and demands that he, along with the rest of the municipal opposition parties, call an extraordinary plenary session to give explanations. The councilor is obliged to call it, because more than a quarter of the City Council councilors have requested it, and the session must be held since the request was presented, in this case on Thursday, February 5. This Friday, Bautista defended his innocence and presented himself as the victim of a “smear campaign” following accusations of sexual and workplace harassment, and threatened legal measures.
