TOWN councils re-formed today across Spain with a marked shift left of the centre, especially in major cities.
Manuela Carmena of independents Ahora Madrid - mainly made up of Podemos candidates, since the latter decided not to run for local elections under its own name - is now mayoress of Madrid, replacing the PP's Ana Botella, wife of former Spanish president José María Aznar, who had already announced she would not be running again for elections this May.
Left-wing humanitarian judge Carmena got all 20 votes from her own party, plus nine supporting votes from the socialists, whilst ex-regional president Esperanza Aguirre (PP), candidate for mayoress, obtained 21.
Carmena says the people of Madrid have been 'suffering' and 'living in anguish' as a result of austerity and mass unemployment, and that she now intends to govern according to what residents want.
"It's a new kind of politics we're in now - and you're all just going to have to get used to it," she said.
Valencia's Rita Barberá left the city council a day ahead of its re-forming, already knowing she had been defeated after 24 years in power - but far from retiring, the 67-year-old will continue on the PP at regional government level.
Her fate looked set to be sealed weeks before the elections due to the unfortunate timing of the 'Ritaleaks', where details including hard copies of invoices showed she had spent hundreds of thousands on top hotels for her bodyguards during her own summer holidays at her sister's villa in Jávea (Alicante), as well as thousands on taxis and between €1,000 and €2,000 at a time on one-way short-haul flights within Europe, including to London airports.
Corruption allegations have affected the PP at regional level in Valencia city, and the council and regional government have been heavily criticised over the years for massive spending on ambitious projects such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the City of Arts and Sciences, the America's Cup world sailing tournament, and Castellón airport - all of which would have brought huge benefits to the region in terms of leisure and tourism expenditure, but which have been poorly exploited and mostly abandoned.
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