Madrid's Diaz Ayuso: Rising Star Of The Spanish Right

An outspoken hardliner and scathing critic of Spain's leftist government, Madrid leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso is a rising right-wing star who looks set to win Tuesday's regional poll and cement her hold on Spain's richest region

Madrid (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd May, 2021 ) :An outspoken hardliner and scathing critic of Spain's leftist government, Madrid leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso is a rising right-wing star who looks set to win Tuesday's regional poll and cement her hold on Spain's richest region.

Not even two years have passed since she took over as Madrid's regional leader, but in that time she has become one of the best-known faces of Spain's right-wing Popular Party, largely thanks to the pandemic.

Responsible for Spain's wealthiest region with a population of 6.6 million and where the pandemic has hit hardest, Ayuso had served barely six months in office when the virus first struck.

Thrown into a historical crisis with little political experience, she has soared to prominence as the battering ram of the right for her confrontational style and blistering attacks on Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

A year into the pandemic, Ayuso abruptly called a snap poll aimed at capitalising on the support she has earned through resisting pressure to impose tighter virus restrictions on the local economy.

Although Madrid has suffered Spain's highest numbers of infections and deaths, Ayuso has consistently defied calls to shut bars and restaurants, turning her into the heroine of the hospitality sector.

Presenting Madrid as the "capital of freedom", she has kept restrictions to a minimum, shunning central government recommendations and even those embraced by other PP-led regions.

"We enjoy a level of freedom and rights that are not to be found anywhere else in Spain. This way of life in Madrid is unique," she said on calling a snap election on March 10.