PP accused of buying votes in Melilla

Cash, coupons for food or gas, and false promises of a job - this was the currency used by the Popular Party (PP) to buy votes from drug addicts and the poor in some neighborhoods of Melilla in the May 22 elections, according to Mustafá Aberchán, head of the Coalition for Melilla.

The political group said Friday it had filed a formal complaint with the Anticorruption Court and Congress and is looking to have the election result annulled.

Aberchán claims that without these votes, which he believes amount to as many as 2,200, PP leader Juan José Imbroda would not have regained his majority.

The controversy came amid political scrambling throughout Spain on Friday as parties looked for pacts to form new city councils on Saturday.

It was a busy day for United Left (IU), with speculators left wondering if the country's third largest party would swing left or right. Almost 30 municipal governments in Andalusia and Extremadura could pass to the PP if agreements hold with IU, which would rather stand back and let the PP rule there than see the Socialists govern again.

Indeed, the support of IU is significant for the Socialists throughout the country, who have said they are set to lose control of 90 towns due to lack of IU support, though IU has put this at only 15.

There are two sides to that coin, however. In 15 percent of the 90 towns cited by the Socialists, IU was the winner in the May 22 elections. Consequently, pacts are also important for IU if it wants to be able to secure its position in governments in Mieres (Asturias), San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), Carmona (Seville), Andorra (Teruel) and Manilva (Málaga), among other places.