# President of the Community of Madrid

The president of the Community of Madrid is the highest-ranking officer of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the head of the executive branch. The office is currently held by Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the People's Party.

## Origins and election

In the process of the democracy restoration in Spain between 1975–1978, the nationalist and regionalist parties pressed to grant home rule to parts of Spain. Finally, the Constitution stated that any province or group of provinces could form an autonomous community and thus be granted partial home rule. The Autonomous Community of Madrid (Spanish Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid) was created in 1982, and since then regional elections are held every 4 years.
The citizens of the Autonomous Communities of Spain do not elect a person for presidency of their community: but rather they elect the regional legislature, and that legislature elects the regional president. A candidate needs a majority (that is supposed to be loyal to him/her during the whole term) to be elected, but the top-voted party can be denied the right to form the government. This situation, though infrequent in nationwide elections, often happens in local/regional legislatures throughout Spain: the most usual coalition is between the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the United Left (IU).
In Madrid, such a coalition was formed in the 2nd term, in which the incumbent Socialist Joaquín Leguina obtained the most vote but not a majority, once more in the 3rd term, allowing him to remain in office even after having obtained fewer votes than the People's Party (PP), and once more in the 6th term, by the PSOE candidate Rafael Simancas. However, this last coalition ultimately failed due to the dissidence of two PSOE Assembly Members, which denounced the pact with IU as being too wide and unrepresentative of the people's will due to the planned power balance. Elections were repeated after a few weeks and Partido Popular won, then by absolute majority.
Since then, the People's Party victories by absolute majority were repeated in 2007 and 2011's regional elections. After the resignation of President Esperanza Aguirre, nominally due to personal matters in late 2012, her deputy president Ignacio González held the post. The People's Party obtained the most votes in 2015 but lost its absolute majority. Its candidate Cristina Cifuentes was invested president after an agreement with Citizens. She was replaced by her deputy Ángel Garrido when she resigned after evidence of both a fake master's degree and petty shoplifting came out.

## List of officeholders

Governments:
* PSOE
* PP
* Mixed coalition
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Party | Government Composition | Election | Monarch (Reign) | Ref. |
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Duration | Party | Party | Government Composition | Election | Monarch (Reign) | Ref. |
| | Joaquín Leguina (born 1941) | 15 June 1983 | 22 July 1987 | 12 years and 15 days | | PSOE | Leguina I PSOE | 1983 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
| | Joaquín Leguina (born 1941) | 22 July 1987 | 13 July 1991 | 12 years and 15 days | | PSOE | Leguina II PSOE | 1987 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
| | Joaquín Leguina (born 1941) | 13 July 1991 | 30 June 1995 | 12 years and 15 days | | PSOE | Leguina III PSOE | 1991 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
| | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (born 1958) | 30 June 1995 | 8 July 1999 | 8 years and 144 days | | PP | Gallardón I PP | 1995 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [6] [7] [8] |
| | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (born 1958) | 8 July 1999 | 21 November 2003 | 8 years and 144 days | | PP | Gallardón II PP | 1999 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [6] [7] [8] |
| | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (born 1958) | 8 July 1999 | 21 November 2003 | 8 years and 144 days | | PP | Gallardón II PP | May 2003 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [6] [7] [8] |
| | Esperanza Aguirre (born 1952) | 21 November 2003 | 20 June 2007 | 8 years and 301 days | | PP | Aguirre I PP | Oct. 2003 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] |
| | Esperanza Aguirre (born 1952) | 20 June 2007 | 16 June 2011 | 8 years and 301 days | | PP | Aguirre II PP | 2007 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] |
| | Esperanza Aguirre (born 1952) | 16 June 2011 | 17 September 2012 (resigned) | 8 years and 301 days | | PP | Aguirre III PP | 2011 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] |
| [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] |||||||
| | Ignacio González (born 1960) | 27 September 2012 | 25 June 2015 | 2 years and 271 days | | PP | González PP | 2011 | King Juan Carlos I (1975–2014) | [14] [15] [16] |
| | Ignacio González (born 1960) | 27 September 2012 | 25 June 2015 | 2 years and 271 days | | PP | González PP | 2011 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [14] [15] [16] |
| | Cristina Cifuentes (born 1964) | 25 June 2015 | 25 April 2018 (resigned) | 2 years and 304 days | | PP | Cifuentes PP | 2015 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [17] [18] [19] [20] |
| [17] [18] [19] [20] |||||||
| | Ángel Garrido (born 1964) | 19 May 2018 | 11 April 2019 (resigned) | 327 days | | PP | Garrido PP | 2015 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [21] [22] [23] |
| [21] [22] [23] |||||||
| | Isabel Díaz Ayuso (born 1978) | 17 August 2019 | 19 June 2021 | 5 years and 54 days | | PP | Ayuso I PP–Cs until Mar 2021 PP from Mar 2021 | 2019 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [24] [25] [26] |
| | Isabel Díaz Ayuso (born 1978) | 19 June 2021 | 23 June 2023 | 5 years and 54 days | | PP | Ayuso II PP | 2021 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [24] [25] [26] |
| | Isabel Díaz Ayuso (born 1978) | 23 June 2023 | Incumbent | 5 years and 54 days | | PP | Ayuso III PP | 2023 | King Felipe VI (2014–present) | [24] [25] [26] |