Mustafa Hamed Mohamed (October 17, 1959) is a Spanish politician who served as the Mayor-President of

Melilla Melilla (, ; ) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was part of the Province of Málaga un ...

from 5 July 1999 to 19 July 2000, and is the leader of Coalition for Melilla. Aberchán was convicted of

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor h ...

by the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the Supreme court, highest court in the Spain, Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political p ...

in 2021, and was arrested for vote buying in 2024.

Career

Coalition for Melilla (CPM) was formed when members of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) left in 1995. Aberchán is the leader of CPM. On 3 July 1999 he became

Mayor-President of Melilla The Mayor-President of the Autonomous City of Melilla () or simply the President of Melilla, is the highest authority of the Spain, Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous city of Melilla, acting as head of government and as Speaker (po ...

with the support of PSOE and the Independent Liberal Group. He was the first Muslim to hold the position and served until a vote of no confidence on 19 July 2000. He funds a charity in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

and attempted to visit it in 2012 and 2013, but was prevented from doing so by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. CPM became a coalition partner in the government after the 2019 election. The

sentenced Aberchán to two years in prison in 2021, for participating in a

scheme during the 2008 election and he was also barred from running for office for two and a half years. Attorney General

Álvaro García Ortiz Álvaro García Ortiz (born 16 December 1967) is a Spanish jurist and prosecutor who has worked for the Supreme Court of Spain. Since 2022, he has been Spanish attorney general. Prior to 2022, García Ortiz was chief prosecutor at the Prosecutio ...

ordered the Anti-Corruption Office in 2023 to investigate allegations of vote buying in Melilla by CPM. Votes were being bought for €100-150. Mohamed Ahmed Al-lal, a former minister and third on the CPM's

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

, was arrested alongside 9 other people. Felipe Heredia Núñez, the former president of

CD Huracán Melilla Club Deportivo Huracán Melilla was a Spanish football team based in Melilla Melilla (, ; ) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the M ...

, allegedly said that he bought more than 500 votes for CPM. Aberchán was arrested alongside five other people on 5 March 2024. The CPM's vote total fell from 10,472 in 2019, to 5,557 in the 2023 election.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aberchan, Mustafa 1959 births Living people Mayor-Presidents of Melilla Members of the Assembly of Melilla Coalition for Melilla politicians Spanish people of Moroccan-Berber descent Spanish Berber politicians Spanish Muslims People from Melilla