A COUNCIL worker has been sacked for refusing to vote for the Partido Popular in the coming Spanish local elections.
Carlos Jiménez, who worked for the PP run town hall of Molvízar for eight years, believes he was dismissed for “not accepting political coercion.”
According to the former council plumber, he was asked by his superior, PP militant Francisco Arenas, to complete a postal vote instead of voting in person in May 27’s vote. This way, claims Jimenez, his vote could be checked.
In a telephone conversation recorded by Jiménez and later broadcast on radio station Cadena Ser, he is heard saying: “I am going to vote on May 27 as I have always done: in person.”
Francisco Arenas replies: “The [postal] vote is sealed. Nobody is going to know how you have voted… everything has its consequence. I am telling you this in confidence.”
Now, the Supreme Court of Andalucia has asked for the recordings and the provincial PP office has opened an internal investigation into the claims.
“They have sacked me for not accepting their coercion. I work for a town council not for a political party,” Jiménez said.
A spokesman for the PSOE party has slammed town mayor Francisco Fermín García, accusing him of “mafia-like behaviour and Sicilian practices.”
Francisco Fermín García, the mayor of the town which lies 10 kilometres to the north of Salobrena in Andalucia, denied Jiménez was dismissed for not agreeing to vote for the PP.
