The municipal counter-power to Ayuso in the Community of Madrid

MadridOf the 179 municipalities in the Community of Madrid, 114, almost 64% of the total, are governed by the PP. The percentage increases if we focus on the 37 with the largest population. 70% of municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants are tinged blue. The Isabel Díaz Ayuso effect caused the left to even lose some of its strongholds in the south of Madrid, traditionally called the red belt, in the last local elections of 2023, as is the case of Móstoles and Leganés – second and fourth most populous cities. The Popular Party also snatched Alcalá de Henares and Alcobendas from the PSOE – third and tenth, located to the east and north, respectively.

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However, the left still holds ground in five of the eleven municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants. Getafe, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcón, Parla, and Rivas-Vaciamadrid – all of them in the south – embody the municipal counter-power to Ayuso and resist the onslaught of the PP of Madrid in their particular race to achieve an even more pronounced hegemony in the region. "We represent two completely different models," reflects Javier Ayala, the socialist mayor of Fuenlabrada, who speaks to ARA in his office, which has never been occupied by a PP politician. The PSOE has governed there uninterruptedly for the last 47 years.

Ayala, who has governed with an absolute majority in the last eight years, claims that this support is explained because they have a "city strategy" based on a commitment to public services, the dynamization of sociocultural life, and direct contact with citizens. The mayor contrasts it with Ayuso's model, which he defines as "zero management, confrontation with the government of Spain, and criticism of anyone who is not blue." A similar argument is made by the mayoress of Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Aída Castillejo, from United Left (IU), in a phone conversation with this newspaper. Her party has governed this municipality since 1991 and she has held office for the last four.

"That fifteen kilometers from the Puerta del Sol there is a city that demonstrates that it can be governed better, defending public services in contrast to privatizations, greatly bothers the Community of Madrid and Génova," states Castillejo. From her municipal team, they highlight that their city model is based on a "very powerful" network of associations and entities, a history of "struggle for social rights," and a "good quality of life" with "many of its own activities." Hence, they claim, they have even been described as a "Gallic village" in the southeast of Madrid.

Make up for lack of investment

"The Community is neither here nor is it expected," Ayala states at one point in the interview, regarding his desire to promote a joint agreement to revitalize the city's industrial estates. The socialist mayor assures that from the town hall they must implement policies that "very clearly combat the neglect" of Ayuso's government. Ayala cites as an example a municipal allocation of two and a half million euros for scholarships for university students from Fuenlabrada, when "this is the responsibility of the Community of Madrid." "There are many resources we could allocate to improving other services if they did their job," he argues.

"We have assumed responsibilities that were not ours," which is "economically unsustainable," agrees the mayoress of Rivas-Vaciamadrid, who cites the "air conditioning" of schools as an example. In this exercise of opposition to Ayuso from the municipal level, the left-wing coalition led by IU has also taken the regional executive to court for refusing to apply the state housing law that allows limiting rental prices. However, although they proclaim that with a progressive regional government they could do even more, in both municipalities Ayuso won the regional elections of 2023 and, in the case of Rivas, the PP was also the leading force in the municipal elections, albeit without being able to govern.

"Institutional disloyalty"

Both Ayala and Castillejo maintain that there is not only a clash between models, but that Ayuso has a will to "mistreat anyone who does not agree with the PP" while granting preferential treatment to allied mayors. "They engage in politics by stealth and treachery, trying to harm the municipality," says the mayor of Fuenlabrada, who recalls the clash they had a year ago with the Community over the reception of migrant minors. The mayor of Rivas-Vaciamadrid speaks of "institutional disloyalty." "Where before [with previous PP governments] there was a possibility of agreement, now it is impossible to meet with the president of the Community," says Castillejo.

Complaints about the difficulties of Ayuso receiving them are a common denominator among left-wing mayors. Socialist mayors of Getafe and Parla have also denounced this, and several controversies have arisen from the fact that the Madrid president has made institutional visits to these municipalities without notifying the mayors.

Ideological battle

The reaction of the Madrid PP to these complaints has been ridicule. Ayuso's agenda is public, argued Ayuso's number two in the Madrid PP, Alfonso Serrano, in response to Ayala, who has also attacked Rivas-Vaciamadrid on other occasions for being "the laboratory of a failed model". Both mayors complain that the PP exercises a "brusque" opposition against them, not constructive at all and with personal disqualifications. Sources from the PP in both municipalities consulted by the ARA accuse, on the other hand, these mayors of being the ones who seek to oppose Ayuso with measures that are more ideological than good for the municipalities, waving flags such as Palestine or 'No to war' to the detriment of security or cleanliness.