Beach vote: “Give me two skewers and stop picking”

Carlos Canete, from Malaga, is 39 years old and has been making sardine skewers for eleven years. In the summer he comes to put about 200 on the coals a day, that is, about 30 kilograms of fish. They are the ones served at Sicsu Beach Bar, an establishment that started as pipe stalls and is now one of the standards in the neighborhood Malaguetain Malaga, which gives its name to the beach on which the workbenches are located. “Politics? This is not discussed here. People say to me: Give me two skewers, Stick and stop making choices“Here they don’t come to get angry, they come to enjoy some time and relax,” adds José María Sanchez, 37, who runs a kiosk on the beach. I’m tired of politicians on TV. I’m better here,” assures 62-year-old Luisa Lopez, a resident of the area, from her washcloth.

This neighborhood wears blue every Election Day. In the last general election, he added 41% of the vote for the People’s Party and 20% for Fox, the second most powerful force some neighbors who go to the polls voted en masse: turnout then exceeded 80%. Here the average age is high and people want to vote. I think the mayor has a lot to do with what he does, but also because he belongs on his ranch and lives here,” says Joaquín Martinez, 52. Alderman, common Francis TowerIn fact, here he got 76% of the votes in the last municipal elections. Martinez and her dog take refuge in the shade on the terrace of the El Gallo Rojo cafeteria. Ron. “Almost all of us here are going to vote, and we have to. What happens is that there are fewer and fewer neighborsHe explains, pointing to a building with 12 floors and 24 apartments on each floor. “Except for ten, the rest are all tourists. All the commercial buildings on the streets that do not overlook the beach have been converted into holiday homes. There should already be 500. Everything changes, but Málaga is a very big part of the popular party thanks to De la Torre,” he insists.

“Those who live in this area are very tense. They think they’re upper class, but then there’s a lot of luxury,” says Antonio, 59, with a laugh, lounging at Jose Maria Sanchez’s booth. There are umbrellas for rent and there’s a plethora of Italian, British and German customers looking for water, slushies and ice cream to fight off her heatwave. Leaving historical figures in the city day and night. There is little talk of debates or elections on the beach, but it is clear that there must be change. You must vote yes or yes on Sunday,” insists his wife Serena, 34, who carefully cleans the booth windows for the photo, with an election poster of Feijoo on the side. “Who is he?” asks the youngest son of a British family sprinting towards the sea.

“Well, I’m not going to vote,” says Yiray Palacios, 28. Another employee at Sicsu Beach Barwhile rushing his lunch shift after five in the afternoon. His opinion is frank: “Whatever happens, everything will go wrong.” “I don’t vote either. In general, in the end they are all the same, ”says his partner Lina Marcela Marín, a 30-year-old Colombian who has already spent half her life in Spain. They both complain about the same thing: “We work a lot and earn the same thing as those who don’t, but they get a lot of help. That can’t be.” In 59 years of experience, Antonio asks them about their votes. We’re going from bad to worse, so it’s time to turn things around,” says one of the people who trust going to the polls on Sunday more than voting by mail. “So that you get lost along the way? I’d rather go in person,” adds this guy from Malaga who spends a lot of time in La Malagueta, but lives in El Palo, a modest, seaside neighborhood of about 30,000 people.

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“get over the topic”

Las Playas de El Palo is the name of a small census section in that area. It is made up of about 600 people who live in two rows of small houses – fishermen originally – about a foot from the sand. In the last general election, the Socialist Workers Party took 46% of their vote, and United We Can got 16%, even above the People’s Party, which got 15% of the support (Vox, 9%) in a turnout that drops here to 66%. Its polling station, located in the SAFA – ICET Education Centre, was the only one to register a majority of support for the Socialists in the entire eastern part of the city. A little red island where gentrification is starting to wreak havoc, housing prices are skyrocketing, and tourism is booming.. “They make Malaga a place for tourists and nothing else,” criticizes Miguel Martin, who turns 69 in August. “But the people of Malaga, as long as they have anchovies, and beer, and some bread and a place to sleep, they do not protest,” he posits with a certain acquiescence.

Martin loves to talk. He recounts his work as a lifeguard on the beach of Los Baños del Carmen, his play in PR in Torremolinos or when he was a guide on horseback in Palma de Mallorca. He tells the stories that serve to give his vision of life. In one of them he says: “Hate cannot be kept, and grudges are bad.” “Women must be treated well, with honesty and respect.“Fox,” he insists. Then confirms he’s clear about his vote this Sunday. “He’s the best,” he explains. The other guy does nothing well and the other has no intelligence and the other LaoAnd codIn the census sections of the coastal strip of each Malaga, Vox was the party with the most votes in only three. Two in the richest areas of the entire province: Puerto Banus (Marbella) and Las Lomas (Estepona). The third is Carvajal, a neighborhood in Fuengirola that also gathers families with high purchasing power.

“Here, a little money. We removed some tubes and swelled from breaking everything, from each other, from the bar … less than the election, from anything,” explains another neighbor of El Palo While standing in line at a public shower to wash off the sand. Underwater is the daughter of Zahra, who lives at the top of the neighborhood. “I’m skipping it while I come to the beach, but I’m going to vote. Let’s see if the bad guys come,” says the 40-year-old. “The best thing here is to disconnect a bit from the bathroom. With the TV we have had enough,” insists a group of women as they collect chairs and towels in the late afternoon. They have come to spend the day from inland municipalities such as Villanueva del Rosario and Villanueva del Trabuco. Another woman added, “If you put on a microphone, you’ll hear all the gossip in the cities, but politics… there’s nothing about it.” Will they vote on Sunday? “As the air comes up,” he mysteriously maintains the person who serves as spokesperson.

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