Cortegada delegates all mayoral powers to the first deputy mayor

The mayor of Cortegada delegated all the powers of the Mayor’s Office to the first deputy mayor, José Víctor González Vázquez, by means of a resolution from the Mayor’s Office dated October 21, 2026. The decision, adopted under a substitution regime and on an indefinite basis as long as the personal circumstances that motivated it persist, was made public in the Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense on October 26, 2026, within section IV (Local Entities), with the reference R. 2.553.

The announcement, headed as “Delegation of all the powers of the Mayor’s Office to the first deputy mayor,” is considered a simple publication for general knowledge: it is not a plenary agreement nor a motion, but a resolution of the Mayor’s Office that is limited to reporting the act of delegation already adopted five days prior. The text was signed in Cortegada on October 21, 2026, by José Víctor González Vázquez himself, who signs as acting mayor, that is, already in the exercise of the functions transferred to him.

A total delegation without an expiration date

The resolution does not partialize competencies nor assign specific management areas: it covers “all the powers of the Mayor’s Office.” Nor does it set a specific period of validity, but rather subordinates it to a condition: that the personal circumstances alleged by the mayor be maintained. This implies that the delegation will extend until those circumstances disappear, without the need for a new publication to be extended.

The practical scope of the agreement therefore comprises the set of functions that local regime legislation attributes to the mayor at the head of the council, including the direction of the municipal government, institutional representation, and the head of personnel, among others. The bulletin does not detail what the invoked personal circumstances are nor provide information about their nature or foreseeable duration.

The legal framework of the substitution

The announcement itself explicitly states the regulatory support for the measure, which is based on two regulations:

• Articles 21.3 and 23.3 of Law 7/1985, regulating the bases of the local regime (LRBRL), which regulate the delegation of the mayor’s powers to the deputy mayors.
• Articles 44 and 47 of Royal Decree 2568/1986, which approves the Regulation of organization, operation, and legal regime of local entities (ROF), which develop the regime of substitution and delegation.

The chosen formula is that of substitution, not that of the ordinary delegation of management of an area. Unlike the latter, substitution implies that the deputy mayor assumes the exercise of the mayor’s competencies, and not only their material execution, for as long as the cause justifying it lasts.

Recent activity of the Council

The publication occurs within a context of intense administrative activity by the Cortegada City Council in recent weeks, also reflected in the provincial bulletin:

• The Plenary, in an ordinary session on September 17, 2026, initially approved the credit modification file TC 4/2026, via transfer between applications of different expenditure areas.
• The Plenary, in an ordinary session on October 2, 2026, initially approved the credit modification file 2/2026, in the form of a credit supplement financed with the liquid treasury surplus for expenses with affected financing.

In both cases, a public exhibition period of fifteen business days was opened for the submission of claims, counted from the day following the insertion of the announcement in the Official Provincial Gazette.

What changes for the residents

Until now, any matter requiring the direct intervention of the Mayor’s Office —from the signing of resolutions to the convening of collegiate bodies— had to go through the mayor. With the published delegation, that channel is transferred to the first deputy mayor, who has already been signing the municipal announcements in the bulletin. For residents and those interested in municipal procedures, the institutional reference spokesperson becomes José Víctor González Vázquez, without this altering the validity of acts already adopted.

The relevance of the news lies in the fact that it is a full transfer of municipal power, not a simple redistribution of tasks, and that it occurs without a declared time horizon. Until the mayor provides evidence of the cessation of the alleged circumstances, the council will operate with a permanent acting mayor at the helm.

Source: Official Provincial Gazette of Ourense, October 26, 2026, section IV. Local Entities (official reference: R. 2.553).