The mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, of the PP, has died at the age of 67, according to municipal sources. The councilor, who already held the mayor’s office between 2015 and 2021, and again since the municipal elections of May 2023, had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer for two years, although he has maintained his activity until just a few days ago. The City Council has declared three days of official mourning and suspended all events.
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Mayoral succession
After the death, the baton of command of the Murcian capital could fall to the vice mayor, first deputy mayor and councilor for Development and Heritage, Rebeca Pérez, who has belonged to Ballesta’s 2015 team. Other voices point, however, to the second deputy mayor and councilor for Urban Development, José Guillén, very close to Ballesta, with whom he was linked since his time as councilor of the autonomous community, occupying different positions in the departments through which the mayor passed. Previously, during Ballesta’s time as rector, Guillén also held coordination and management positions at the university. In recent months, the name of the Minister of Finance of the autonomous community, Luis Alberto Marín, has also been widely heard as a future PP candidate for mayor of the capital, although he could not hold the position until the next municipal elections, in 2027, since he is not a councilor of the municipal corporation.
