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This Tuesday, June 8, a historic event will occur in Madrid: The Madrid Assembly will be established and all party leaders will be women. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Mónica García, Hana Jalloul, Rocío Monasterio and Isa Serra will be the representatives of their respective parties during the XII legislature of the Community.

Precisely the date on which this milestone will occur coincides with the anniversary of the first constitution of the regional parliament: June 8, 1983. Almost 40 years later, we have gone from women occupying 15% of the seats – 17 compared to 91 men in the first legislature – to the formation of the Assembly being equal: they are the 47.8% (65 deputies) and they 52.2% (71 in total).

What can we expect from this legislature in which they will have the leading voice? Each one has a completely different ideology, type of leadership and trajectory. Victoria Rodriguez, doctor in Political Science, analyst and professor at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche; and Laia Marcoalso a doctor in Politics and a consultant in Political Communication at Heterodoxia Group, have analyzed to MagasIN the strengths and weaknesses of the representatives of the Community of Madrid.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP)

The two experts begin with the clear winner of the elections: Isabel Díaz Ayuso. She has governed the Community since 2019 and decided to bring forward the elections, alleging that they were planning a motion of censure against her. During this time, she has made headlines in all the media and has shown herself to be Pedro Sánchez’s biggest adversary during the management of the pandemic. In the May 4 elections she risked everything and she finally emerged victorious.

“I would highlight the Ayuso’s undisputed leadership. She has been the overwhelming winner of the elections but, in addition, the same electoral campaign has given her a highlight and a national significance to regional elections,” explains Rodríguez. “The monitoring of the media at the national level, the candidacy of Pablo Iglesias at the regional level… All of these elements have strengthened him.”

Laia Marco agrees with Rodríguez and adds that Ayuso “is the leader of his own brand of the PP of Madrid”. Marco understands the concept of leadership like Joseph Nye: your ability to generate an organization and common objectives, but also to achieve a solid community of followers. “There has to be a communion of both and from here come the strengths and weaknesses of many.”

Starting from that base, he considers that Ayuso has everything to be a leader. “He is a charismatic person, with an indisputable passion, who believes what he says, which is the most important thing. He has a very loyal following and is the ayusismthere’s no more. “It’s not that you’re from the PP, it’s that you’re from Ayuso”.

Mónica García (More Madrid)

Following in order according to the number of votes obtained, it is the turn of Mónica García, general coordinator of Más Madrid. She entered the Madrid Assembly in 2015, as part of the Podemos Comunidad de Madrid list and in 2019 she joined her current party. As anesthetistthe defense of public health is among its main political objectives.

Mónica García has been one of the surprises of the elections, managing to give the surprise to the PSOE and catapulting Más Madrid from fourth to second force in the Assembly.

“She is very well regarded, I think she has managed to have a good community of followers because there was a lack of female leadership within the left. I think that has managed to gain the female leadership of the left moderate or the consensual left, that is its strong point,” Marco explains.

“He has occupied that role with all his professionalism, with his message always positive, always optimistic, always using terms such as respect, professionalism, good sense, change, future, progressivism… Furthermore, he is a person who is very much in line with what is verbal and what is non verbal, “It’s very credible, very measured.”.

At the political level, as Rodríguez highlights, “she comes with experience, she has already served as general coordinator in the previous legislature, so she has it under control.”

Hana Jalloul (PSOE)

For some voters, Hana Jalloul is still somewhat unknown. She has a degree in Political Science, she has a doctorate from the Complutense University of Madrid and has served as associate professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) in the field of international terrorism studies.

In politics, she arrived at the Assembly in 2019 but left her regional seat on January 30, 2020 after being appointed Secretary of State for Migration by Pedro Sánchez. In these last elections she was included as number 2 on the PSOE list, headed by Ángel Gabilondo.

After her resignation, Jalloul has become the leader, which means she starts at a certain disadvantage. “Just like Isa Serra, will assume the spokesperson of his parliamentary group by rebound. From the outset it will be in a situation that was not foreseen, we will have to see how it develops,” says Rodríguez. Marco thinks the same, “it has arrived late and we know very little about it, It’s a bit of designated leadership.”.

However, he believes that he can have a role of some relevance: “What Jalloul has is that he is a person who has his own career, an academic career, a projection with a very marked profile… She you don’t need to live off politics. She makes use of her academic and professional profile to bring out the best in herself “something that, according to Marco, furthermore, gives you a lot of credibility.

In this sense his leadership is more “empathetic and conciliatory” and “he is capable of supporting a good number of followers, but not his own brand like Ayuso. I don’t think he has a strong leadership in the party, but within the Assembly he can play a very important role in generating consensus within of the House, that is relevant.

Marco has “quite high expectations” about Jalloul and hopes “that he knows how to carve out a niche for himself in Madrid politics because I think he has a lot of raw material.” “I think he knows where he is, He knows his position and does not hesitate. His problem is that we’ll see how far they let him be a leader.”

Rocío Monasterio (Vox)

Although she is in the Madrid Assembly, Rocío Monasterio is one of the main leaders of Vox at the national level. He has been a very visible face of the party since its expansion began in 2018. Monasterio has been spokesperson for Vox in the Assembly since 2019 and, although in the last legislature he did not enter the government, he was key to allowing Ayuso’s presidency. . In the last elections she has remained stable, winning one more seat.

“I think that Monastery “He has a very strong leadership, but be careful, within Vox, not in the Assembly”Marco points out. “It’s based more than anything on the fact that she is a stable, successful woman who exudes stillness. She has a quite violent message, but it does not transcend the level of gesturesso the overall image it conveys is one of stability, success and a self-confident person.”

“I consider that she has the raw material to become a fairly strong leader within the deliberative space that is the Assembly and within Vox,” says the political communication expert.

Isabel Serra ( Podemos )

A career philosopher, Isa Serra has been part of Podemos since 2014 and in 2015 she became a deputy in the Madrid Assembly. She champions the anti-capitalist faction of the party and in 2019 he became the group’s spokesperson in the regional parliament. As with Jalloul, Serra was number two on the list and, in her case, she has reached the position after the resignation of Pablo Iglesias.

There is also a cloud of uncertainty regarding Serra’s future since the Superior Court of Madrid sentenced to 19 months in prison and disqualification from practicing politics (during that time) for attacking the Police during a protest in 2014. Now he is waiting to see if the Supreme Court confirms the sentence.

For Marco, Serra has a type of “combative” leadership, but at the same time “ephemeral and replaceable”. Because? Because “she is not a leader, she is a stereotype. She is the companion of the University of any literary career, a feminist, who gets involved in the student council and holds sit-ins and demonstrations.”

“She is a person, for me, with the immaturity typical of a university student who has not yet gone out into the working world. Being a stereotype, I think that “She is an easily replaceable leader.”he declares bluntly.

Women only chamber

What can we expect from this Assembly with such different women leaders? On this question the two experts have different opinions.

Rodríguez considers that this milestone is “good and positive” and “may present differences with respect to other occasions.” “I believe that women are more versatile, practical and conciliatory and that institutional development is going to be less polarized and ideological than the electoral campaign,” she believes.

“That does not mean that if Más Madrid, Mónica García, who has surprised to the PSOE, wants to continue showing that leadership, has to have a speech and show leadership in the opposition. But possibly that will become even more evident in the last stretch of the legislature, I think that these two years there can be a policy more focused on the problems of citizens than in ideology”.

For his part, Marco expects “the same as in Congress.” “I don’t think that being women is going to determine less confrontation. Yes, they can create consensus at times, but in general terms, being women is not going to determine greater understanding. On the contrary, They are still people with a marked, strong profile and a speech that creates many headlines for better or worse. Therefore, I expect exactly the same as if they were in Congress or at a rally.”

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