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Issue 559
No vote, no voice
JULY 2 - 8 2010
by Louise Clarke
The Punta Prima beach is now accessible for all
Pride of Orihuela ORIHUELA MAYOR Monica Lorente, officially raised the ‘Blue’ flag at the Cala Capitan beach in Cabo Roig and later she inaugurated the new lift at the Punta Prima Beach, which is the first of its kind in the Valencian Community. For more on this story turn to page 5.
ALTHOUGH NEXT year’s municipal elections are still ten months away, in order to be able to vote in them, you must be registered to vote in the municipality where you live, by the autumn. As a result, RTN is today officially launching a campaign along with various Town Halls of the southern Costa Blanca to help and assist residents to get registered, not only on the ‘padron’ but also on the electoral census, in order that they can have that all important vote. This is not a political campaign as RTN is working with all political parties; this is a campaign to make sure that the expat residents of the Costa Blanca, whatever their nationality, get their right to vote and therefore have a voice in how their Town Halls are run. This campaign has the potential to change the whole political structure of the Town Halls of the area, the likes of which have never been seen and
RTN is proud that its campaign has been received so well by the various Town Halls that it has approached. INCORRECT PAPERWORK
This week, RTN is focusing its campaign in Orihuela Costa. At the last municipal elections in 2007, there were 25,000 European residents living on the coast and yet only 3,500 actually voted. What happened to the other 21,500 people who had the right to vote? RTN is aware that there were postal problems at the time and that some people were turned away at the polling stations due to the lack of the correct paperwork. RTN is also aware that at the time, it was easier to get access to Iran’s nuclear weapons portfolio than it was to actually get registered on the ‘padron’, let alone get registered to vote. But the Town Hall of Orihuela has assured RTN that this will not be an issue in the coming months and it is happy to put them to the test. continued on page 3