Town hall putsch gives Socialist leader red face over link to sex offender

The disastrous management of a local issue — a censure motion against the mayor of Ponferrada — has turned into a major headache for Socialist Party leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba.
The Socialist councilor who became mayor of the town in León province last Friday thanks to support from a convicted sex offender has decided to go rogue and forego his own party membership rather than give up his seat, as central headquarters has said it wants him to do.
El Pais