Mendiolaza residents seek to oust the PRO mayor due to her disastrous management

A group of residents is initiating a procedure to request the recall of the mayor of Mendiolaza, Adela Arning (PRO), due to her disastrous management. In this context, a serious incident occurred at a police station.

Meanwhile, the provincial government is cautiously monitoring the development of the conflict, considering that what happened in Mendiolaza, located in Córdoba, could be repeated in other localities.

Self-convened residents have begun the formal process to request the removal of Arning as the head of the city. The institutional crisis that Mendiolaza is going through has already exceeded the usual period in which new governments tend to blame previous administrations for problems. According to residents' testimonies, the situation in the Sierras Chicas area is getting worse.

The malfunctioning of essential services, along with increases in municipal rates that in some cases exceeded 100%, was the trigger for the citizens to decide to mobilize. Deficiencies in garbage collection, lack of maintenance in parks, streets, and problems with public lighting top an extensive list of complaints.

One of the leaders of the neighborhood movement is Alberto Dalmasso, who is leading the proposal to remove her from office. With the endorsement of the Provincial Electoral Justice, they began collecting the 1,300 signatures needed to proceed with the recall and call for new elections.

The incident at the police station

On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Adela Arning appeared at the Mendiolaza police station, where residents are carrying out the certification of signatures to push for her recall. According to several witnesses, the mayor arrived accompanied by three constitutional lawyers with the aim of trying to stop the ongoing process.

"The young officers were overwhelmed by the lawyers, but the lady certifying the signatures asked them to call their superiors because she wasn't going to back down. Minutes later, a patrol car arrived. The responsible Commissioner attended to the lawyers and the Mayor and told them: 'Doctors, you can make whatever argument you want, but you can't tell us what to do; we're doing what the Justice asked us to,'" recounted Dalmasso, a leader of the neighborhood group. After that tense exchange, a verbal confrontation broke out between Arning and some residents, in a highly tense atmosphere.

Those pushing for the recall process point out that these types of authoritarian attitudes by the PRO mayor are common and generate frustration among the population. For them, what happened at the police station was not an isolated incident but another example of the leadership style they reject.

The judicial course that Arning adopts will be crucial in trying to stop the ongoing procedure. However, given the rapid progress in collecting signatures, the Provincial Electoral Justice is expected to intervene shortly. The growing public discontent could represent a serious obstacle to the continuity of the current administration.

Arning took office as mayor in December 2023, after winning a very close election with multiple candidates. Her victory was by a narrow margin: just 22 votes separated her from her main rival.

The recall is a tool that citizens can use to end an official's term, framed within the democratic exercise. However, they warn that what happens there could set a precedent for other localities in Córdoba.

The potential removal of Arning could trigger a "domino effect" in several interior municipalities experiencing similar situations of discontent.