Neighbors' Alternative ( gl, Alternativa dos Veciños; AV) is a left-wing political party active in the Comarca of A Coruña,

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

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. 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 following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...

the party suffered a setback, gaining only 5 seats and losing the mayor to the

Socialists' Party of Galicia The Socialists' Party of Galicia ( gl, Partido dos Socialistas de Galicia, PSdeG–PSOE) is a centre-left political party in Galicia, Spain. It is the Galician affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). It defines itself as a Gal ...

(PSdeG). AV won the elections again in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, 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). Seoane had also been the mayor between 1987 and 1995. Prior to the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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 Culleredo is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Culleredo is located on the outskirts of A Coruña and its population is mainly formed of commuters. It is located in the cent ...

(won 3 seats),

Arteixo Arteixo () is a municipality in the Province of A Coruña, part of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. Its area is 93.76 km2 and its population is 31,005 (2013). Its population density is 317.43 people/km2. It is an i ...

(no representation) and

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

(no representation). AV wants to expand its presence to more municipalities before the 2019 municipal elections.

Ideology and government

The ideology of the party is based on

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...

and

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

. AV also supports anti-imperialist movements in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

(mainly the Cuban revolution) and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. The mayor of Oleiros is supporter of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

, that was declared an honorary councilor of the municipality in 1984, and the municipality has a statue of

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

. Oleiros is also known for its

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, 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 Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

football fields. Oleiros has the higher indexes of social housing and green spaces per inhabitant of all

Organization

AV has a Monitoring Committee, an Executive Committee and permanent councils in the 9

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of the municipality. The party has a system of primary elections in which candidates are previously chosen by the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

assemblies of the party, to guarantee that all

have representation in the final list. The 30 elected candidates (3 for each parish) then run in an open

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

. 3,119 (11,8% of the registered voters of the municipality) people participated in the 2015 primaries. 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

take part.Más allá de las ciudades en crisis
Diagonal, 07/07/2014.

Election results

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official websiteOfficial Twitter
1979 establishments in Spain Political parties established in 1979 Political parties in Galicia (Spain) Socialist parties in Galicia (Spain)