Above: The new mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena waves as she leaves the Cibeles Palace after being sworn in.
A political revolution sweeps Spain, former protesters take elected offices
“We are servants of the people of Madrid.We are here because they have chosen us to represent them”
“We are servants of the people of Madrid”, said Carmena. “We are here because they have chosen us to represent them. We cannot forget it.We are at their service. Therefore I would insist and remember that we want to listen as well as govern”.
Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the anti-austerity anti-corruption Podemos party was there to the witness the event. He can claim much of the credit for the changes taking place across the country.
The victory for the left wing citizens’ alliance in the Spanish capital is the fall out from the dismal ruling right-wing Partido Popular results in the local and regional elections last month.
Similar citizen-driven left-wing alliances are now also in power in Barcelona and Valencia.
What amounts to a political revolution in Spain can be traced back to the ‘indignados’ protests against austerity measures introduced by the PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2011.
He now has some serious thinking to do before the parliamentary elections due in November.