The Coalition for Melilla (CPM) (Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: Coalición por Melilla) is a political party in the North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

n exclave of Melilla

Melilla

Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...

. The party was formed shortly before the 1995 municipal regional elections of Melilla, as a split from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

 (PSOE) which had previously a strong electoral implantation among Muslim voters. At the 1995 municipal elections, CPM won five seats, as many as the PSOE, and the People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

 (PP) (PP won 14. Three years later, in August 1998, there was a split in the PP and a new municipal executive was formed against the PP, including the CPM, with its leader Mustafa Aberchán

Mustafa Aberchán

Mustafa Hamed Moh Mohamed , better known as Mustafa Aberchán after his Tarifit clan name, is a Muslim Spanish politician from Melilla...

 entering it with the Environment portfolio.

In 1999, Mustafa Aberchán, running on the Coalition ticket, became the first Muslim mayor of Melilla due to PSOE and Independent Liberal Group

Independent Liberal Group

The Independent Liberal Group was a far-right-wing Spanish political party. It was founded in 1991. Its founder was the convicted businessman Jesús Gil y Gil, who was mayor of Marbella in the Costa del Sol...

 backing. At 2007 elections for Melilla Assembly, the party came second (5 seats) after PP (15 seats).

Coalition for Melilla has been federated with United Left

United Left (Spain)

The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...

since June 2008.

Sources

• Shireen Hunter. Islam, Europe's second religion: the new social, cultural, and political landscape. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0275976084, 9780275976088. Pg 173