Eleven PSOE councilors in Soria have resigned to let Javier Antón, number 15 on the 2023 list, replace Carlos Martínez as mayor. Martínez vacated the position after 19 years to lead the opposition in the Cortes de Castilla y León. Antón was sworn in this Monday during an extraordinary plenary session.
Carlos Martínez, who held Soria's mayoralty for 19 years, stepped down to lead the socialist opposition in the Cortes de Castilla y León. His successor, Javier Antón, a PSOE senator and close ally of the former mayor, became council leader after the eleven councilors ahead of him on the 2023 election list resigned. The PSOE secured 12 council seats in those elections.
The list had previously shifted following the death of Jesús Bárez in February 2024, the original number five. María Antonia Dulce Pérez, in position 14, gave up her seat, paving the way for Antón, who will retain his Senate position.
At the swearing-in plenary, Martínez rebuked the opposition—PP with seven seats and Vox with two—for challenging the move, calling it a lack of "cortesía institucional" or institutional courtesy. "They have shown their worst version," he said, lamenting that "everything goes to scrape a few votes".
Antón inherits an absolute majority held by the PSOE for four terms. He expressed willingness to dialogue with opponents, stating that "disagreement cannot be allowed to turn into hate".
