The first president of the Community of Madrid, Joaquín Leguina, has presided over the regional Chamber of Accounts since this Tuesday. This has been decided by the new directors of the supervisory body after taking office, according to 'Abc'. Leguina was promoted to the position directly by the current president of the region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, since she only received the votes of the PP in the Assembly. Ayuso's party controls the majority of the Chamber of Accounts, so the election of Leguina as president could not be done without her assistance.
The control of Ayuso's PP over the region's supervisory body was forged at the end of last year. On the day of the Christmas draw, the Madrid Assembly held an extraordinary plenary session to approve the 2024 Budgets and, incidentally, different legal modifications. Among them, one to laminate the opposition in the Accounts Chamber.
Four months later, Ayuso completes the move. He first proposed Leguina as an advisor. A position that entails a salary of 100,000 euros. The former president of Madrid himself said he was not very clear about what his functions would be and that he would find out “more thoroughly” when he joined. The PP alone appointed five of the advisors of the supervisory body.
But Leguina will also have to find out what functions he has as president. This Tuesday, the new seven councilors took office. Afterwards, they met for the first time and elected him as their president.
Leguina thus completes its transit. In 1983 he was elected president of the newly formed Community of Madrid. For some years before, he had led the PSOE in the region. Leguina ceded power to the PP in 1991 and, since then, the right has governed continuously in Madrid.
His distancing from the PSOE came after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero assumed the state leadership of the PSOE. Leguina supported his rival, José Bono, along with Felipe González and other former leaders of Spanish socialism. Leguina ended up asking for the vote for Ayuso, which meant his expulsion as a socialist militant.
