María del Carmen Leyte Coello (born 3 December 1953) is a Spanish doctor and politician of the People's Party (PP) who has been a member of the

Senate of Spain The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. Th ...

since the 2008 general election, representing the

Province of Ourense Ourense (in Spanish, ''Orense'') is a Spanish province, in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora, (which both belong to Cas ...

Political career

Leyte was born in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

and was the mayor of

Cartelle Cartelle is a municipality in Ourense (province) in the Galicia region of north-west Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' ...

between 1991 and 2017. In addition to her role in parliament, Leyte has been serving as a member of the Spanish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

since 2018. In the Assembly, she is a member of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development (since 2020), Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize (since 2020), Sub-Committee on Children (since 2020), the Sub-Committee on Public Health and Sustainable Development (since 2019) and Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons (2018–2019). In this capacity, she authored a 2022 report on vaccine-preventable diseases.

Personal life

On 12 March 2020 during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Leyte tested positive for

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

References

1953 births Living people Members of the 9th Senate of Spain Members of the 10th Senate of Spain Members of the 11th Senate of Spain Members of the 12th Senate of Spain Members of the 13th Senate of Spain Members of the 14th Senate of Spain People's Party (Spain) politicians Women mayors of places in Spain Spanish women in politics People from Vigo Members of the 15th Senate of Spain {{Galicia-politician-stub