In Spain, a president of an Autonomous Community[a][i] serves as the chief executive officer in each of the seventeen Autonomous communities and in the two Autonomous cities, where they receive the name of "Mayor-Presidents". As such, regional presidents are responsible for implementing regional laws and overseeing the operation of the state executive branch. As regional leaders, governors advance and pursue new and revised policies and programs using a variety of tools, among them executive laws, executive budgets, and legislative proposals.
The figure of a vice-president is not regulated, and as such, each regional president can decide whether to appoint them or not.
Role and powers
Autonomous communities in Spain have their own set of devolved powers; typically those communities with stronger local nationalism have more powers, and this type of devolution has been called asymmetrical.[1] Some scholars have referred to the resulting system as a federal system in all but name, or a "federation without federalism". Spain is not a federation, but a decentralizedunitary state. While sovereignty is vested in the nation as a whole, represented in the central institutions of government, the nation has, in variable degrees, devolved power to the communities, which, in turn, exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and their autonomous statutes.[2]
Each Autonomous community has its own Statute of Autonomy, and government, consisting of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The president heads the government's executive branch in each Autonomous community or city and has control over government budgeting and a role in legislation.[3] Spanish regional presidents do not have term limits and as such, they can serve indefinitely.
All regional presidents are indirectly elected, as it is the role of the regional parliaments to appoint them following regional elections, if they can command a majority.
Presidents of Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, whose Statutes of Autonomy and election laws were created by a special fast procedure,[4] can also select the actual election date and trigger snap elections, and have frequently done so, particularly in the Basque Country and Catalonia. The Andalusian elections are usually set to coincide with the Spanish general elections, but again, there is no requisite to that effect in the Andalusian legislation. In the rest of Autonomies, elections are fixed to a certain common date, which is currently "the fourth Sunday of May each four years".[5]
Party affiliation of current Spanish regional presidents:
PSOE
PP
ERC
PNV
There are currently 13 Autonomous communities and cities with a People's Party president, 3 Autonomous communities with a Socialist president and 3 with regionalist or nationalist presidents.
Tenure
For each term, presidents serve four years in office. All members of regional parliaments are elected for four-year terms, but the president of the community has the faculty to dissolve the legislature and call for early elections. Nonetheless, in all communities except for the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, and Andalusia elections are held the last Sunday of May every four years, concurrent with municipal elections in all Spain.
The longest-serving current and continuously president is Iñigo Urkullu from the Basque Country, serving since December 2012.
The longest-serving regional president of all time was Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra of Extremadura, who was elected in 1983 and lasted until 2007, when he returned to his position as professor in the University of Extremadura.
The shortest-serving president of all time was Antonio Rodríguez Basulto of La Rioja, who served for 126 days between January 25 and May 30, 1983.
Age
The oldest current regional president is Iñigo Urkullu of the Basque Country, born on (1961-09-18) September 18, 1961 (age 62). The youngest current regional president is Fernando López Miras of the Region of Murcia who was born on (1983-10-04) October 4, 1983 (age 40).
The youngest regional president to serve was Joan Lerma of the Valencian Community (born in 1951), who became President of the Valencian government in 1982, at the age of 31.
The Region of Murcia is the only Autonomous community to have had female regional presidents from both major parties, although conservative María Dolores Pagán Arce served only in the acting capacity for a short time. Navarre was the first region where a woman followed another woman as regional president, with Uxue Barkos succeeding Yolanda Barcina (they were from different parties). Uxue Barkos was also succeeded by another woman, current President María Chivite. The Community of Madrid and Navarre have had the most female regional presidents with a total of three, and Navarre is also the first region to have three women in a row serve as president.
The total of five female regional presidents serving from June 25 to July 1, 2015 and since July 14, 2023 at the same time is the current record in Spain.
LGBT status
There is currently one regional LGBT president, Adrián Barbón from Asturias.[6] In addition, former president of the Canary Islands Jerónimo Saavedra, recognized his homosexuality years after leaving the position.[7] At the moment they are the only presidents or former regional presidents to have declared so.
Birthplace
As no region has laws that establish the need to be born in the region in order to reach the presidency, 21 of the regional presidents were born outside the Autonomous community where they served:
Although Spain is a still predominantly Catholic country, the latest studies show an increasing decline of religious beliefs in Spanish society, with the latest CIS study conducted in May 2021 indicating that compared to 58.2% of the Spanish population that declare themselves Catholic, 37.5% declare themselves either atheist, agnostic or non-believer. Currently, the presidents of Andalusia, Asturias, the Basque Country,[8] Extremadura,[9] Galicia and Murcia declare themselves as Catholics, while the presidents of Aragon,[10] the Balearic Islands, Cantabria,[11] Catalonia[12] and the Community of Madrid[13] declare themselves to be either atheist or non-believers.
Physical disability
Salary
The highest salary currently being accepted is that of Catalan President Pere Aragonés at €153,235.5 The lowest salary is that of Asturian President Adrián Barbón at €69,128.62.[14]
Seven autonomies (Aragon, Basque Country, Catalonia, La Rioja, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands) currently offer their presidents a higher salary than the €85,608.72 paid to the Prime Minister of Spain.[15][16]
Regional election timeline
Each tenure is set to last for four years. Presidents of Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia can trigger snap elections, that would then restart the count until the next one. In the rest of Autonomies, elections are fixed to a certain common date, which is currently "the fourth Sunday of May each four years".[5] If snap elections are triggered in these regions (See2021 Madrilenian regional elections), the mandate given to the next elected president would last until the calendar date in which elections would have been called again.
Term limits
The Region of Murcia and Extremadura were the only Autonomous Communities that, since 2014, limit the number of terms of their Presidents. The Region of Murcia sets the limit at two, whether consecutive or not,[17][18] while Extremadura stated that "not being able to be elected president of the Junta de Extremadura those who have already held this position for two successive terms, unless four years have passed since the end of their term and, in no case, whoever has held this position for at least eight years can be elected".[19] However, in 2019, the article that limited the terms of the President of Extremadura was repealed.[20][21] Two more regions, Catalonia and Castilla-La Mancha, have had their Statutes of Autonomy modified to allow their regional parliaments to stablish a term limit, although mandates have not been regulated. In 2021, the Assembly of Murcia eliminated the term limit that would have forbidden president López Miras from seeking a third term.[22]
Relationship with vice-president
The existence of the figure of a vice-president varies by Autonomous community. In all communities it is a power of the elected President to appoint a vice-president to replace them if needed, but not all Presidents choose to have an official one, instead appointing a member of their cabinet as their possible replacement.
One Autonomous community has three vice-presidents: Navarre (Félix Taberna, PSOE; Ana Ollo, GBai and Begoña Alfaro, Contigo)
Four Autonomous communities have two vice-presidents: The Basque Country (Josu Erkoreka, PNV and Idoia Mendia, PSE), Castilla-La Mancha (José Luis Martínez, PSOE and José Manuel Caballero, PSOE), Galicia (Francisco Conde and Diego Calvo, PP) and the Valencian Community (Vicente Barrera, Vox and Susana Camarero, PP).
Many regional presidents have served, in addition to the regional level, at different levels of the national government, before or after their election as regional presidents.
^"Autonomic president", "regional president", or simply "president" (in Spanish: presidente autonómico, presidente regional, or simply presidente; in Catalan/Valencian: president autonòmic, president regional, or simply president; in Galician: presidente autonómico, presidente rexional, or simply presidente). In the Basque language lehendakari is not translated.
^In the Basque Country, the head of government is officially known as lehendakari in Basque, or by the Spanish rendering of the title, lendakari.
