RESIDENTS of two towns in the far-western region of Extremadura were called upon to vote on Sunday whether they wanted to merge and become one bigger municipality.
A referendum was authorised by the State in early November, as both local councils believed they would become socially, financially and politically stronger if they joined forces – but they wanted to know what the people living in them thought.
Don Benito town centre (left) and the main church in Villanueva de la Serena (right). The local councils in these beautiful Badajoz-province towns want to merge into one…but the public was given the final say. What did they decide? (Pictures 1 to 5 inclusive by Extremadura regional tourism board)
The 37,300 inhabitants in Don Benito, and the 25,800 in neighbouring Villanueva de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz – which borders onto Portugal – where they were aged at least 16, were urged to cast their ballots, and both mayors had set a minimum threshold of 66% for 'yes' in each of the towns as a condition of going ahead with the merger.
All political parties along the spectrum from right to left, in both councils, are in favour of the move, and Don Benito's mayor José Luis Quintana and his counterpart in Villanueva de la Serena, Miguel Ángel Gallardo – both on the socialist, or PSOE party – have been leading a 'yes' campaign for the past four months.
Don Benito's ornate Ethnographic Museum. It would become part of Villanueva de la Serena if the two towns linked up - and who wouldn't vote to get their hands on this historical gem?
They have been backed by MPs from elsewhere in the country, and published data from a detailed report drawn up by the Faculty of Business Economics at Extremadura University showing how the two smaller towns could benefit from being one large one of 63,100 residents.
A tale of two towns, or one city
In practice, as Villanueva de la Serena has a 'city' charter, despite its small size, the resulting municipality will be a city rather than a town, and will be the third-largest in Extremadura after the two provincial capitals of Badajoz (151,000 inhabitants) and Cáceres (96,500 residents), knocking the splendid Roman metropolis of Mérida (with 60,000) into fourth place.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com