Alicia Gallego
Alicia Gallego González is a Spanish politician of the Leonese People's Union (UPL). She has been the mayor of Santa María del Páramo since 2015, and was elected to the Cortes of Castile and León in 2022. In 2022, she succeeded Luis Mariano Santos as leader of the UPL.
Biography
[edit]Born in Santa María del Páramo in the Province of León, Gallego was elected mayor of her hometown in 2015, leading a minority government. She increased the number of seats on the council for the Leonese People's Union (UPL) in 2019 and 2023, the latter being 8 out of 11 seats.[1] She was the first elected woman mayor of the town; Elpidia Alonso Tagarro had served from 1975 to 1979 on appointment by the civil governor of León during the Spanish transition to democracy.[2]
At the time of the 2022 Castilian-Leonese regional election, Gallego was the UPL mayor whose town had the most inhabitants. She was promoted from third to second on the party's electoral list in the León constituency after the withdrawal of Valentín Martínez, mayor of Villaturiel.[3] In the election, the party grew from only having leader Luis Mariano Santos to having three members in the Cortes of Castile and León, thereby becoming the third force in the constituency after the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the People's Party (PP).[4]
On 13 May 2025, it was announced that at the UPL's 13th Congress a month later, Gallego would succeed Santos as secretary-general, while he would become vice-secretary. She ran unopposed.[5] Gallego said that she and her party seek a new autonomous community comprising the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora, and that they would look for dialogue with entities proposing a new province for the comarca of El Bierzo in León. She blamed the PP government in Castile and León and the PSOE national government for what she considered to be a disadvantageous status quo for the three provinces.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Alicia Gallego: la voz firme del municipalismo leonés" [Alicia Gallego: the firm voice of Leonese localism]. Heraldo de León (in Spanish). 1 May 2025. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ "¿Es Alicia la primera alcaldesa de la democracia?" [Is Alicia the first woman mayor of the democratic era?] (in Spanish). Santa María del Paramo.com. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ Fariñas, Rubén (4 January 2022). "La renuncia de Martínez deja a Alicia Gallego como 'dos' de UPL a las Cortes y el portavoz en El Bierzo de 'tres'" [Martínez's withdrawal leaves Alicia Gallego as the UPL's 'number two' for the elections to the Cortés and the spokesperson in El Bierzo as 'number three'] (in Spanish). Leo Noticias. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ "El leonesismo muerde a PSOE y PP en Castilla y León" [Leonesism bites the PSOE and the PP in Castile and León]. El País (in Spanish). 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ del Campo, Santiago G. (13 May 2025). "Cambio de líder tranquilo en la UPL: la procuradora Alicia Gallego asumirá la secretaría general" [Peaceful leadership change in the UPL: deputy Alicia Gallego will take office as secretary general]. Diario de Castilla y León (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ Reca, A. F.; Calvo, J. (13 June 2025). "Alicia Gallego: "La autonomía es el camino hacia la recuperación económica, social y territorial de León"" [Alicia Gallego: "Autonomy is the pathway towards the economic, social and territorial recover of León"]. Heraldo de León (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 July 2025.