The councillor of Con Málaga (Podemos and IU) will stand for the Podemos primaries in September to lead a united left list. Housing and the recovery of neighbourhoods are his central themes.
The councillor of Con Málaga in the city council of the capital, Nico Sguiglia, officially announced on Tuesday his intention to run as a candidate for mayor in the municipal elections of May 2027. To do this, he will participate in the internal primaries of Podemos, scheduled for next September.
Sguiglia explained that the decision comes after a process of reflection shared with his closest circle and after listening to party members, residents, and social groups in the city. "Málaga needs a municipal government focused on the well-being of the social majority and not on the businesses of a few," he stated in a press release.
The Podemos leader has positioned the right to housing as the central priority of his political project. He has called for policies that curb speculation, regulate rental prices, expand public and affordable housing, and end what he has termed as "the jungle of tourist apartments." He warned that thousands of young people and working families are leaving the city because they cannot afford to live there.
As a second major focus, Sguiglia has advocated for the recovery of neighbourhoods against what he considers a municipal model focused on tourism promotion. He criticized the current local government for prioritising "selling the city externally" at the expense of the daily lives of residents, and has called for a council focused on improving public services, cleanliness, and the care of neighbourhoods rather than continuing to break tourist records.
Sguiglia has confirmed that Podemos will work to create the broadest possible coalition before 2027, bringing together not only political organisations from the transformative left but also social groups, neighbourhood associations, and independent individuals. "We want to build a city candidacy, not just a party candidacy," he asserted.
In this regard, he noted that Podemos is already working on the process alongside Izquierda Unida, with whom they share the Con Málaga municipal group, and has extended an invitation to Adelante Andalucía to join the project. He also called for the future candidacy to be formed through joint and open primaries, in which both profiles proposed by organisations and representatives of residents and citizens individually can participate.
Sguiglia's announcement comes after the current mayor, Francisco de la Torre (PP), confirmed in mid-July that he will lead the popular candidacy again in 2027, seeking to renew a mandate that has already lasted since 2000. De la Torre, who will face the elections at 84 years old, stated that he feels "useful" for Málaga.
So far, the other parties represented in the City Council, PSOE and Vox, have not yet confirmed their respective candidacies for mayor, so the electoral landscape for May 2027 remains open across most of the municipal political spectrum.
The residents of Málaga will see in the coming months how the electoral options take shape. Sguiglia is betting on a united candidacy that brings together the left and civil society, with housing as its banner. The Podemos primaries in September will be the first step in defining who will lead that alternative.
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