The former socialist president of the Community of Madrid, Joaquín Leguina (Villaescusa, Cantabria, May 5, 1941), will be appointed today by the Madrid Assembly as advisor to the Chamber of Accounts.
He was the first president of the Community of Madrid, a position he held between 1983 and 1995. We cannot literally speak of transfuguismo because he has not signed for the PP, but has accepted a public position at the proposal of the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Furthermore, he was expelled from the PSOE two years ago, so it is not a change of jacket without an intermediate step.
The PP, in addition to Leguina, has proposed Francisco Cabrillo Rodríguez, Carlos Salgado Pérez, Graciela María Soledad García Díaz and Ana Cossío Capdevilla for that organization, while María Otilia Armiñara is on the list for the PSOE and for Más Madrid, Verónica López Sabater . Vox will not have representation.
In the Simplification Law approved last December, which changed 15 texts, the Law of the Chamber of Accounts was modified, expanding the Council from three to seven members and reducing the number of deputies necessary to approve appointments in the first round, from 89 to 81 deputies.
With this modification, the objective of the ‘popular’ is to guarantee the renewal of the body, which is assured since in a second round their absolute majority is sufficient.
The new majority for the first vote implies that PP can approve them with the ‘yes’ of any other party, since they total 81 with Vox and 97 with anyone from the left, but Rocío Monasterio’s party already announced a few days ago that it will not vote in favor, understanding that this reform “damages the independence” of the Chamber of Accounts and only served “for the politicization of the institution.”
On the part of the PSOE, they have not commented on what their voting direction will be, although they have recalled that they have taken this Simplification Law to the Constitutional Court. The socialists do have the aforementioned candidate on their list of proposals, but they criticized Leguina when it was reported that she was a PP proposal.
From the PSOE in Madrid they were “stunned” and pointed out that “everyone chooses how they want to be remembered.” In 2022, the PSOE suspended Leguina from membership as a result of an expulsion file opened against him and Nicolás Redondo Terreros in 2021 when the party understood that they had requested the vote for the regional president and then the PP candidate for re-election. Isabel Díaz Ayuso. For their part, Más Madrid has already said publicly that they will abstain.
Parliamentary sources have explained to Europa Press the steps that the vote will follow. First, an attempt will be made to approve the proposal by assent, which has to be unanimous and is already ruled out by Vox’s ‘no’.
Next, the seven candidates will be voted on with the panel of seats at once and with a requirement of 81 ‘yeses’. Having the ‘no’ from Vox and the abstention from Más Madrid, the only way to approve it at this point would be an affirmative vote from the PSOE. If it is not possible either, it will be done by absolute majority (guaranteed by the PP) and in a ballot box, which would delay the session.
Hence, it is expected that the day in the Madrid Assembly will be long this Thursday, but at the end of the day, Leguina will be elected councilor of the Chamber of Accounts at the proposal of the PP.
