President (Autonomous Community of Spain)

See also: List of current presidents of the autonomous communities of Spain

In Spain, a president of an Autonomous Community^[a][i] serves as the chief executive officer in each of the seventeen Autonomous communities and in the two Autonomous cities, where they receive the name of "Mayor-Presidents". As such, regional presidents are responsible for implementing regional laws and overseeing the operation of the state executive branch. As regional leaders, governors advance and pursue new and revised policies and programs using a variety of tools, among them executive laws, executive budgets, and legislative proposals.

The figure of a vice-president is not regulated, and as such, each regional president can decide whether to appoint them or not.

Role and powers

Autonomous communities in Spain have their own set of devolved powers; typically those communities with stronger local nationalism have more powers, and this type of devolution has been called asymmetrical.^[1] Some scholars have referred to the resulting system as a federal system in all but name, or a "federation without federalism". Spain is not a federation, but a decentralized unitary state. While sovereignty is vested in the nation as a whole, represented in the central institutions of government, the nation has, in variable degrees, devolved power to the communities, which, in turn, exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and their autonomous statutes.^[2]

Each Autonomous community has its own Statute of Autonomy, and government, consisting of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

The president heads the government's executive branch in each Autonomous community or city and has control over government budgeting and a role in legislation.^[3] Spanish regional presidents do not have term limits and as such, they can serve indefinitely.

All regional presidents are indirectly elected, as it is the role of the regional parliaments to appoint them following regional elections, if they can command a majority.

Presidents of Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, whose Statutes of Autonomy and election laws were created by a special fast procedure,^[4] can also select the actual election date and trigger snap elections, and have frequently done so, particularly in the Basque Country and Catalonia. The Andalusian elections are usually set to coincide with the Spanish general elections, but again, there is no requisite to that effect in the Andalusian legislation. In the rest of Autonomies, elections are fixed to a certain common date, which is currently "the fourth Sunday of May each four years".^[5]

History

Further information: Nationalities and regions of Spain

Demographics

Party

Party affiliation of current Spanish regional presidents:

  PSOE

  PP

  ERC

  PNV

There are currently 13 Autonomous communities and cities with a People's Party president, 4 Autonomous communities with a Socialist president and 2 with regionalist or nationalist presidents.

Tenure

For each term, presidents serve four years in office. All members of regional parliaments are elected for four-year terms, but the president of the community has the faculty to dissolve the legislature and call for early elections. Nonetheless, in all communities except for the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, and Andalusia elections are held the last Sunday of May every four years, concurrent with municipal elections in all Spain.

The longest-serving current and continuously president is Emiliano García-Page from Castilla-La Mancha, serving since July 2015.

The longest-serving regional president of all time was Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra of Extremadura, who was elected in 1983 and lasted until 2007, when he returned to his position as professor in the University of Extremadura.

The shortest-serving president of all time was Antonio Rodríguez Basulto of La Rioja, who served for 126 days between January 25 and May 30, 1983.

Age

The oldest current regional president is Alfonso Fernández Mañueco from Castile and León, born in (1965-04-29) April 29, 1965 (age 59). The youngest current regional president is Fernando López Miras of the Region of Murcia who was born on (1983-10-04) October 4, 1983 (age 41).

The youngest regional president to serve was Joan Lerma of the Valencian Community (born in 1951), who became President of the Valencian government in 1982, at the age of 31.

Gender

As of July 2023, there are 14 male regional presidents and 5 female regional presidents: Marga Prohens of the Balearic Islands, María Guardiola of Extremadura, Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the Community of Madrid, María José Sáenz de Buruaga of Cantabria and María Chivite of Navarre. Of those, Chivite belongs to the social-democratic Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, while Prohens, Guardiola, Sáenz de Buruaga and Díaz Ayuso are from the conservative People's Party.

Seventeen women have served or are currently serving as regional presidents, including three in an acting capacity. Asturias, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Catalonia, Ceuta, Galicia, Melilla and the Valencian Community have never had a female regional president.

The first female regional president was María Antonia Martínez García of the Region of Murcia, who was elected on May 3, 1993, succeeding Carlos Collado Mena.

The Region of Murcia is the only Autonomous community to have had female regional presidents from both major parties, although conservative María Dolores Pagán Arce served only in the acting capacity for a short time. Navarre was the first region where a woman followed another woman as regional president, with Uxue Barkos succeeding Yolanda Barcina (they were from different parties). Uxue Barkos was also succeeded by another woman, current President María Chivite. The Community of Madrid and Navarre have had the most female regional presidents with a total of three, and Navarre is also the first region to have three women in a row serve as president.

The total of five female regional presidents serving from June 25 to July 1, 2015 and since July 14, 2023 at the same time is the current record in Spain.

LGBT status

There is currently one regional LGBT president, Adrián Barbón from Asturias.^[6] In addition, former president of the Canary Islands Jerónimo Saavedra, recognized his homosexuality years after leaving the position.^[7] At the moment they are the only presidents or former regional presidents to have declared so.

Birthplace

As no region has laws that establish the need to be born in the region in order to reach the presidency, 21 of the regional presidents were born outside the Autonomous community where they served:

• Andalusia: Manuel Chaves (Ceuta), José Antonio Griñán (Madrid) and Juan Manuel Moreno (Catalonia).
• Aragon: Hipólito Gómez de las Roces and Emilio Eiroa (Asturias) and Luisa Fernanda Rudi (Andalusia).
• Asturias: Juan Luis Rodríguez-Vigil (Castilla-La Mancha) and Francisco Álvarez-Cascos (Madrid).
• Balearic Islands: José Ramón Bauzá (Madrid).
• Canary Islands: Lorenzo Olarte (Galicia).
• Cantabria: José Joaquín Martínez (Basque Country).
• Castile and León: José María Aznar (Madrid).
• Castilla-La Mancha: María Dolores de Cospedal (Madrid).
• Catalonia: José Montilla (Andalusia).
• Community of Madrid: Joaquín Leguina (Cantabria).
• Region of Murcia: Pedro Antonio Sánchez (La Rioja).
• Navarre: Yolanda Barcina (Castile and León).
• Valencian Community: Eduardo Zaplana (Murcia) and Jose Luis Olivas (Castilla-La Mancha).

Juan Manuel Moreno (Andalusia) is the only current regional president born outside of the Autonomous community he governs.

Apart from those, Francesc Antich Oliver, from the Balearic Islands, was born in Caracas, Venezuela, although he holds Spanish nationality, and Carlos Collado Mena, from Murcia, was born in Orléans, France, from exiled Spaniards during the Spanish Civil War.

Religion

Although Spain is a still predominantly Catholic country, the latest studies show an increasing decline of religious beliefs in Spanish society, with the latest CIS study conducted in May 2021 indicating that compared to 58.2% of the Spanish population that declare themselves Catholic, 37.5% declare themselves either atheist, agnostic or non-believer. Currently, the presidents of Andalusia, Asturias, the Basque Country,^[8] Extremadura,^[9] Galicia and Murcia declare themselves as Catholics, while the presidents of Aragon,^[10] the Balearic Islands, Cantabria,^[11] Catalonia^[12] and the Community of Madrid^[13] declare themselves to be either atheist or non-believers.

Physical disability

Salary

The highest salary currently being accepted is that of Catalan President Salvador Illa at €136,177.50. The lowest salary is that of Cantabrian President María José Sainz de Buruaga at €65,555.09.^[14]

Seven autonomies (Aragon, Basque Country, Catalonia, La Rioja, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia) and the two autonomous cities currently offer their presidents a higher salary than the €85,608.72 paid to the Prime Minister of Spain.^[15][16]

Regional election timeline

Each tenure is set to last for four years. Presidents of Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia can trigger snap elections, that would then restart the count until the next one. In the rest of Autonomies, elections are fixed to a certain common date, which is currently "the fourth Sunday of May each four years".^[5] If snap elections are triggered in these regions (See 2021 Madrilenian regional elections), the mandate given to the next elected president would last until the calendar date in which elections would have been called again.

Term limits

The Region of Murcia and Extremadura were the only Autonomous Communities that, since 2014, limit the number of terms of their Presidents. The Region of Murcia sets the limit at two, whether consecutive or not,^[17][18] while Extremadura stated that "not being able to be elected president of the Junta de Extremadura those who have already held this position for two successive terms, unless four years have passed since the end of their term and, in no case, whoever has held this position for at least eight years can be elected".^[19] However, in 2019, the article that limited the terms of the President of Extremadura was repealed.^[20][21] Two more regions, Catalonia and Castilla-La Mancha, have had their Statutes of Autonomy modified to allow their regional parliaments to establish a term limit, although mandates have not been regulated. In 2021, the Assembly of Murcia eliminated the term limit that would have forbidden president López Miras from seeking a third term.^[22]

Relationship with vice-president

The existence of the figure of a vice-president varies by Autonomous community. In all communities it is a power of the elected President to appoint a vice-president to replace them if needed, but not all Presidents choose to have an official one, instead appointing a member of their cabinet as their possible replacement.

• One Autonomous community has three vice-presidents: Navarre (Félix Taberna, PSOE; Ana Ollo, GBai and Begoña Alfaro, Contigo)
• Three Autonomous communities have two vice-presidents: The Basque Country (Ibone Bengoetxea, PNV and Mikel Torres, PSE), Castilla-La Mancha (José Luis Martínez, PSOE and José Manuel Caballero, PSOE) and Galicia (Francisco Conde and Diego Calvo, PP).
• Seven Autonomous communities have a vice-president: Those communities are Aragon (Mar Vaquero, PP), Asturias (Gimena Llamedo, PSOE), Balearic Islands (Antoni Costa, PP), Canary Islands (Manuel Domínguez, PP), Castile and León (Juan García-Gallardo, Vox) and Murcia (José Ángel Antelo, Vox) and the Valencian Community (Susana Camarero, PP).
• Six Autonomous communities do not have a vice-president: Andalusia, Cantabria, Catalonia, Extremadura, La Rioja and the Community of Madrid.
• The two Autonomous cities do not have a vice-president.

Constitutional qualifications by region

Region	Title	Minimum Age	Spanish Citizenship	Member of Parliament	Sole employment	Sole office	Term limit	Notes
Andalusia	Presidente de la Junta de Andalucía	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[23]
Aragon	Presidente de la Diputación General de Aragón	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[24] [25]
Asturias	Presidente del Principado de Asturias	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[26] [27]
Balearic Islands	Presidente del Gobierno de las Islas Baleares (President del Govern de les Illes Balears)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[28] [29] [30]
Basque Country	Presidente del Gobierno Vasco (Lehendakari)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[31] [32]
Canary Islands	Presidente del Gobierno de Canarias	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[33] [34]
Cantabria	Presidente de Cantabria	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[35] [36]
Castile and León	Presidente de la Junta de Castilla y León	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[37] [38]
Castilla-La Mancha	Presidente de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Unregulated, allowed since 2019)	[39] [40]
Catalonia	Presidente de la Generalidad de Cataluña (President de la Generalitat de Catalunya)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Unregulated, allowed since 2006)	[41] [42]
Extremadura	Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (From 2014 to 2019: two consecutive terms, or having held the position for at least eight years)	[43] [44]
Galicia	Presidente de la Junta de Galicia (Presidente da Xunta de Galicia)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[45]
La Rioja	Presidente de la Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[46] [47]
Madrid	Presidente de la Comunidad de Madrid	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[48] [49]
Murcia	Presidente de la Región de Murcia	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No (From 2014 to 2021: Two terms)	[50][51][52]
Navarre	Presidente de la Comunidad Foral de Navarra (Nafarroako Gobernuko Lehendakaria)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[53] [54]
Valencian Community	Presidente de la Generalidad Valenciana (President de la Generalitat Valenciana)	18	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[55] [56]

In national politics

Many regional presidents have served, in addition to the regional level, at different levels of the national government, before or after their election as regional presidents.

• Andalusia:
  • Manuel Chaves: Minister of Labour and National Health Service (1986-1990), Minister of Territorial Policy (2009-2010), Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Administration (2010-2011), Third Deputy Prime Minister of Spain (2009-2011), Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain (2011).
  • José Antonio Griñán: Minister of Health and Consumption (1992-1993), Minister of Labour and Social Policy (1993-1996).
• Aragon:
  • Luisa Fernanda Rudí: President of the Congress of Deputies (2000-2004).
• Asturias:
  • Francisco Álvarez-Cascos: Deputy Prime Minister of Spain (1996-2000).
• Balearic Islands:
  • Jaume Matas: Minister of the Environment (2000-2003).
  • Francina Armengol: President of the Congress of Deputies (2023–present).
• Basque Country:
  • Patxi López: President of the Congress of Deputies (2016).
• Canary Islands:
  • Jerónimo Saavedra: Minister of Public Administration (1993-1995), Minister of Education and Science (1995-1996).
• Castile and León:
  • José María Aznar: Prime Minister of Spain (1996-2004).
  • Jesús Posada: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1999-2000), Minister of Public Administrations (2000-2002), President of the Congress of Deputies (2011-2016).
  • Juan José Lucas: Minister for the Presidency (2001-2002), President of the Senate (2002-2004).
• Castilla-La Mancha:
  • José Bono: Minister of Defence (2004-2006), President of the Congress of Deputies (2008-2011).
  • María Dolores de Cospedal: Minister of Defence (2016-2018).
• Catalonia:
  • José Montilla: Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism (2004-2006).
  • Salvador Illa: Minister of Health (2020-2021).
• Galicia:
  • Manuel Fraga: Minister of Information and Tourism (1962-1969), Minister of the Interior (1975-1976).
• Community of Madrid:
  • Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón: Minister of Justice (2011-2014).
  • Esperanza Aguirre: Minister of Education, Culture and Sport (1996-1999), President of the Senate (1999-2002).
  • Cristina Cifuentes: Government Delegate in the Community of Madrid (2012-2015).
• Valencian Community:
  • Eduardo Zaplana: Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (2002-2004).

See also

• List of current presidents of the autonomous communities of Spain
• Government of Spain
• Autonomous communities of Spain
• List of female presidents of the autonomous communities of Spain
• List of Spanish regional legislatures

Footnotes

References

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2. "Recursos Educativos" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Tecnologías Educativas y de Formación del Profesorado. Ministerio de Eduación, Cultura y Deporte.
3. "Estatutos de Autonomía comparados por materias:: Secretaría de Estado de Administraciones Públicas ::". 2014-10-06. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
4. Cortes, Constituent. "Part Viii". Spanish Constitution of 1978 (annotated).
5. Madrid Assembly: Statute of Autonomy of Madrid, §10.7
6. "¿Quién es el misterioso novio actual de Adrián Barbón? | Actualizado agosto 2023" (in Spanish). 2023-05-14. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
7. Pastor, Enric (December 20, 2000). "El ex ministro Saavedra cree que "ocultar la homosexualidad lleva al psicoanalista"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-10-25.
8. "21 cosas que no sabías de Urkullu". El HuffPost (in Spanish). 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
9. "Guillermo Fernández Vara, 'Soy socialista y cristiano. Y pretendo poderlo seguir siendo porque lo necesito personalmente y porque creo que en el mundo la gran referencia es la igualdad' - PSOE". web.psoe.es. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
10. Aragón, Heraldo de. "Javier Lambán: "Nunca le di importancia al infierno"". heraldo.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-13.
11. SER, Cadena (2017-05-19). "Miguel Ángel Revilla: "No soy creyente, pero Liébana es un lugar mágico"". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-13.
12. "Pere Aragonès: "Muchos ateos, si de una iglesia tenemos que ser, sería la de Pere Casaldàliga"". Europa Press. 2020-08-08. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
13. Mantilla, Jesús Ruiz (2019-05-23). "Isabel Díaz Ayuso: "Perdí la fe a los nueve años"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
14. Andalucía, COPE (2024-01-19). "El mapa que muestra cuánto cobran los presidentes autonómicos en España: quién gana más y menos". COPE (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-12.
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19. Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura (2014-03-06), Ley 1/2014, de 18 de febrero, de regulación del estatuto de los cargos públicos del Gobierno y la Administración de la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura, pp. 21259–21285, retrieved 2022-03-23
20. "El presidente no tiene ya límite de mandatos". Hoy (in Spanish). 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
21. Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura (2019-11-11), Ley 13/2019, de 16 de octubre, de modificación parcial de la Ley 1/2014, de 18 de febrero, de regulación del estatuto de los cargos públicos del Gobierno y la Administración de la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura, pp. 123795–123797, retrieved 2022-03-23
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External links

Notes

Translation of terms

1. "Autonomic president", "regional president", or simply "president" (in Spanish: presidente autonómico, presidente regional, or simply presidente; in Catalan/Valencian: president autonòmic, president regional, or simply president; in Galician: presidente autonómico, presidente rexional, or simply presidente). In the Basque language lehendakari is not translated.

1. In the Basque Country, the head of government is officially known as lehendakari in Basque, or by the Spanish rendering of the title, lendakari.