It was an open secret. Caroline Darias will make official this Saturday his candidacy for mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria by the PSOE in the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium. The still Minister of Health will thus try to take over from the socialist and current mayor of the capital Augusto Hidalgo in the municipal elections of May 2023. It is a movement that will mean his return to the Islands after having passed through the second cabinet of Pedro Sánchez. Nevertheless, Sources linked to the party indicate that Darias wants to ensure a starting position on the lists for the Congress of Deputies in the next general elections.which will foreseeably be at the end of the year, in case of not reaching enough votes to head the golden hall of the Town Hall.
The presentation ceremony will be headed by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance of the Government of Spain and Deputy Secretary General of the party, María Jesús Montero. Darias and Montero will be supported at the event by Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands and general secretary of the Canarian socialists; Sebastián Franquis, Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands and Secretary General of the PSOE of Gran Canaria; and Augusto Hidalgo, mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and general secretary of those of Pedro Sánchez in the capital.
In the 1999 elections he ran for the first time, as number two for Sebastián Franquis
Already last Sunday, in front of some 700 people at the Fiesta de la Rosa of the socialists of Gran Canaria, Darias has already shown his predisposition to accept the candidacy for the capital of Gran Canaria. “Here, I am, with you, at the service of the party and at the disposal of the citizens,” he stressed before the militants gathered in Arucas. The appointment of the head of Health falls within the movements that Ferraz is promoting; Darias would be joined by the candidacy of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, to lead the list for the Madrid City Council.
Political career
Graduated in Law from the University of La Laguna, Darias has been in active politics since 1996, the year in which she joined the ranks of the PSOE of the Canary Islands. It has been almost three decades in which she has passed through all levels of public administration, from the town hall of her hometown to the Government of Spain, where He currently remains in charge of the Health portfolio after taking over from Salvador Illa in January 2021 to start the career to the Generalitat of Catalonia. In addition to numerous positions within the party, she is currently Secretary of Health and Consumption of the PSOE.
This will not be the first time that Carolina Darias appears on the socialist plate of the capital’s City Council, although yes as head of the list. In the 1999 municipal elections he came second on the ballot headed by Sebastián Franquis. The socialists achieved five minutes, for which Darias made his debut in a plenary hall in what would be the second term of the popular José Manuel Soria as mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – a position that he revalidated by sweeping the elections with 19 elected councilors- .
In the municipal elections of 2003 he repeated as number two of the Socialists in the capital, although in this case behind Judge Arcadio Díaz Tejera. Darias remained for a short time in this second time in the opposition -Josefa Luzardo revalidated the mayoralty for the popular ones-. In 2004, she was appointed government subdelegate in the province of Las Palmas when José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero assumed the presidency of the central government.
Darias contested the regional elections of 2007 as number two for Gran Canaria to parliament, after the candidacy of Juan Fernando López Aguilar. However, a year later he left the chamber and went on to preside over the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands.
If the Socialists revalidate, the mayor’s office would be in power for 12 years, something that only the PP has achieved
It is in the local and regional elections of 2011 when he heads a plate for the first time. In this case, to the Cabildo, where he remained in opposition for four years as spokesman for the PSC. In 2015 he once again competed in the regional elections, leading the list for Gran Canaria. After formalizing the pact between CC and PSOE to invest the nationalist Fernando Clavijo, she is appointed president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands.
In 2019 she was elected as Minister of Economy, Knowledge and Employment after formalizing the Pact of Flowers. However, he remains less than a year in that position. In January 2020, he became part of the coalition government led by Pedro Sánchez at the head of the Territorial Policy and Public Function portfolio after the previous minister, Meritxel Batet, assumed the presidency of Congress. Finally, he would assume the powers in Health in January 2021, in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic.
Revalidate the mayor’s office
The election of Darias would close the door to any other applicant to head the socialist list for the City Council of the capital. Most likely, the appointment of the still Minister of Health will be automatic. All despite the fact that other names initially came up to succeed Augusto Hidalgo as mayoral candidate; mainly that of Inmaculada Medina, councilor for Public Services and Carnival and who came to test possible support.
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If the Socialists manage to revalidate the mayoralty of the capital -it remains to be seen if repeating the alliance with Nueva Canarias and Unidas Podemos or under other parameters-, they would manage to remain in power for three consecutive legislatures. This is a milestone that, for the moment, has only been achieved in the city by the PP between 1995 and 2007 with the two absolute majorities of Soria and that of Pepa Luzardo.
If the numbers don’t add up, Darias would be interested in a starting position for the province of Las Palmas in the next general elections. If the electoral calendar is followed, the elections would be at the end of the year, after the local and regional ones. The now minister would thus ensure a position at the national level. Although she has never really been a representative in Congress; In 2019, the PSOE list for Las Palmas was led by Elena Máñez, who, precisely, succeeded Darias in the Government of the Canary Islands.