Isabel Díaz Ayuso re-elected

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, leader of the regional district of Madrid in Spain has won a resounding victory, but after a bitter election battle.

Interestingly, despite more than doubling the Popular Party (PP) seats, Isabel still fell short of a majority and may end up in alliance with the far right.

She defied the Socialist-led central government by keeping Madrid’s bars and shops open throughout the pandemic.

Ayuso, 42, has been an outspoken critic of the central government’s handling of the pandemic, under the mantra of freedom, and she has fought against a number of its lockdown restrictions.

There was high security following death threats against several candidates. The acrimonious campaign highlighted the polarisation in Spanish politics.

While Ayuso has described the vote as a choice between socialism or freedom, her opponent Pablo Iglesias, from the left-wing Unidos Podemos (United We Can), has spoken of a choice between democracy or fascism, highlighting the potential involvement of the far-right Vox party in a future Madrid government.

Iglesias had resigned as deputy prime minister to take on Ayuso as his party’s candidate. After Tuesday’s vote result, he said he would quit politics.

More than five million people were eligible to vote in the election and turnout during the day was high as long queues formed outside polling stations.

Ayuso is a rising star in the PP, which has governed Madrid for 26 years. Having studied journalism and political communication, she first joined the Madrid Assembly in 2011 before becoming its president in 2019.

Madrid’s bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen in February while other regions continued to clamp down. No-one wanted curfews or states of emergency, she complained recently.

The leader of the leftist Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, announced his resignation, after his party made only modest gains.