President of the Community of Madrid
The President of Madrid is the highest-ranking officer of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the head of the Executive Branch. The office is currently held by Esperanza Aguirre of the People's Party.
Origins and election
In the process of the democracy restoration in Spain between 1975–1978, the nationalist and regionalist parties pressed to grant home rule to parts of Spain. Finally, the Constitution stated that any province or group of provinces could conform an autonomous community and thus be granted partial home rule. The Autonomous Community of Madrid (Spanish Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid) was created in 1982, and from then regional elections are held every 4 years.
Unlike those of the US states, the citizens of the Autonomous Communities of Spain don't elect a person for presidency of their community: they elect the regional legislature, and that legislature elects the President: the executive power emanates from the people through the legislative power, instead of coming directly from the people. This system usually grants the government more stability because a candidate needs a majority to be elected (majority that is supposed to be loyal to him/her during the whole term), but has a drawback: a party can win the election (be the top-voted party) but might not win the presidency (have a majority).
List of Presidents of the Autonomous Community of Madrid
| TERM (PERIOD) | PARLIAMENT COMPOSITION | PRESIDENT (PARTY) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (1983-1987) | PSOE: 51; AP-PDP-UL: 34; IU: 9 | Joaquín Leguina (PSOE) |
| 2nd (1987–1991) | PSOE: 40; AP: 32; CDS: 17; IU: 7 | Joaquín Leguina (PSOE) |
| 3rd (1991–1995) | PP: 47; PSOE: 41; IU: 13 | Joaquín Leguina (PSOE) |
| 4th (1995–1999) | PP: 54; PSOE: 32; IU: 17 | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP) |
| 5th (1999–2003) | PP: 55; PSOE: 39; IU: 8 | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP) |
| 6th (2003) | PP: 55; PSOE: 47; IU: 9 | See below |
| 7th (2003–2007) | PP: 57; PSOE: 45; IU: 9 | Esperanza Aguirre (PP) |
| 8th (2007–2011) | PP: 67; PSOE: 42; IU: 11 | Esperanza Aguirre (PP) |
The 6th term scandal
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In the 2003 election, the ruling People's Party switched leadership: incumbent Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón aimed for the office of Mayor of Madrid, which he successfully obtained with a safe mayority, while the regional list was headed by Senator and ex-Minister Esperanza Aguirre. The election was very contended and in the end the PP won but fell some 25.000 votes short of a majority, with 55 out of 111 seats. The two other forces in the newly-elected Assembly, the PSOE (47 seats) and IU (9), both leaning left, started negotiations and in the end achieved a pact, which included the election of a favorable President of the Assembly (i.e. Speaker) and Bureau as its first point. It also included the cession of big chunks of budgetary control to IU, which sparked critics from some sectors within the PSOE because the balance of power, while still favorable to the PSOE, was way out of proportion with the votes and seats each party in the coalition had received. However, PSOE leader Rafael Simancas dismissed them and said it was "time for a government of the left in Madrid".
But something went wrong: When, in the first session of the term, the temporary president called for voting, 2 PSOE seats were empty: their owners did not enter the room. The result: 4 PP members against 2 PSOE and 1 IU guaranteed a PP majority on the bureau.
Later, the "fled" deputies granted an interview on TV, blaming IU for their behaviour. They said they couldn't accept IU's conditions for a left-winged government in Madrid (which included IU controlling a big part of the budget). The PSOE immediately fired them, and blamed PP for "bribing them to prevent a left-winged government in Madrid" and "using paychecks to change the election results". PP refused accusations and sued PSOE after Supreme Madrid Justice Court (the higher madrilene justice instance before the Spanish Supreme Court) for calumnies. The sue was filed.
Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, the origin of the scandal, refused to return their seats to the PSOE, and created their own parliamentary group (the Mixed Group), thus creating a very strange situation: there wasn't any viable majority. The president of the legislature, Concepción Dancausa (PP) announced that, with the present situation, she was forced to call for new elections, so the PSOE candidate Rafael Simancas presented to a "fake" vote for investiture to force a 2 months delay.
In the meantime, a parliamentary committee investigated the causes of the "flee". After a month of 12-hour sessions, it approved a conclusion saying Tamayo and Saez did not have an economic cause to flee from the legislature, and were not bribed by PP. That conclusion was refused by the Plenary Session, by 55 votes YES (PP) and 56 votes NO (PSOE, IU and Mixed Group).
New elections were held on October 26, 2003. Tamayo and Sáez created a new political party, New Socialism; they obtained about 6,000 votes and no seats. The new result was a majority for the PP, with 57 seats against the PSOE's 45 and IU's 9. Some time later, PP candidate Esperanza Aguirre won the investiture vote and was appointed 3rd President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid.