Emma Rosa González Bermello (21 September 1931 – 14 January 2014) was a Spanish politician. She was the first woman to be mayor of

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 ...

or any other place in Galicia, serving for 15 days in January 1976 and again from 1978 to 1979. She was also one of the first three women in the Parliament of Galicia, where she served from 1981 to 1989 and represented three parties.

Biography

Born in

Ourense Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...

, González moved to the fellow Galician city of

at the age of three. She and her husband Jesús owned the electronics store Baladrón. The family became prominent in local politics in the final years of

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

, being nicknamed the "Baladrón clan" in allusion to the Kennedy family in the United States. After the death of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

in November 1975, all mayors appointed by his regime had to resign in January 1976, with a new mayor to be chosen by the councils. Incumbent Joaquín García Picher stepped aside in Vigo, with González serving as the interim for the final two weeks of the month before he was reinstated. This made her the first female mayor in Vigo and in Galicia as a whole. García Picher resigned in 1978 due to economic turmoil, and González returned to office. In the first democratic elections in April 1979, she was defeated by

Manoel Soto Manoel Soto Ferreiro (6 April 1944 – 27 November 2019) was a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician. He was the first democratically elected mayor of Vigo in Galicia from 1979 to 1991. Biography Born in Ourense, Soto was a founder o ...

of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE). Standing for the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), González was elected to the new Parliament of Galicia in its first election in 1981, being one of three women in the 71-seat legislature. In 1985, she was re-elected for the People's Alliance (AP), but left in 1987 for the Galician Coalition (CG) in solidarity with vice president Xosé Luís Barreiro. They voted in favour of the PSOE's Fernando González Laxe's

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

that brought down the AP government of

Gerardo Fernández Albor Gerardo Fernández Albor (7 September 1917 – 12 July 2018), also Xerardo Fernández Albor, was a Spanish physician and president of the autonomous community of Galicia. He lost a motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also v ...

. González then left politics permanently, despite offers made for her return. She had three children, and was a widow for six years before her death at the age of 82. She had been living with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Bermello, Emma 1931 births 2014 deaths People from Ourense People from Vigo Mayors of Vigo Women mayors of places in Spain Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) politicians People's Alliance (Spain) politicians Members of the 1st Parliament of Galicia Members of the 2nd Parliament of Galicia Deaths from Alzheimer's disease