María Gloria Elizo Serrano (born December 11, 1966) is a Spanish lawyer, politician of

Podemos (Spanish political party) Podemos (, translated in English as "We Can"), * ca, Podem, * gl, Podemos, is a left-wing populist political party in Spain. Part of the anti-austerity movement in Spain, it was founded in January 2014 by political scientist Pablo Iglesia ...

and the third vice president of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

.Elizo Serrano, María Gloria
Congress page. Since February 18, 2017, she has been part of the national executive of We Can in different responsibilities and since June 8, 2019 as Secretary of Democratic Regeneration and Policies against Corruption.

Biography

Graduated in Law from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

, she began working as a lawyer specializing in Criminal and Civil Law. Partner for twelve years of a

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

, she was appointed a substitute judge in the court of

Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...

( Jaén) in 2002. With the appearance of We Can, she took over his legal representation. As such, she was in charge of the lawsuits against

Esperanza Aguirre Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma (; born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician. As member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 (becoming the first female politician to have held the post), a ...

and Eduardo Inda for accusing Pablo Iglesias of collaborating with Basque Homeland and Liberty and We Can of receiving financing from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. She also promoted, together with the lawyer Jaume Asens and the former prosecutor Carlos Jiménez Villarejo, the complaints against

Jordi Pujol Jordi Pujol Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. Early life Pujol was ...

and Marta Ferrusola and collaborated in the contact that the party maintained with different professional groups. The Podemos legal team received seven criminal complaints related to its financing. Once they were archived, the accusation appeared first against

Clean Hands Clean hands, sometimes called the clean hands doctrine, unclean hands doctrine, or dirty hands doctrine, is an equitable defense in which the defendant argues that the plaintiff is not entitled to obtain an equitable remedy because the plaintif ...

and then against journalist Eduardo Inda in the complaint against Commissioner

José Manuel Villarejo José Manuel Villarejo ( El Carpio, Córdoba, August 3, 1951) is a Spanish businessman and a former officer in Spain's National Police Corps. He was arrested in 2017 and could face a jail term of 109 years if convicted. He is accused of involvemen ...

for the wiretapping of the National Intelligence Center of the so-called "patriotic police" that allegedly manufactured false reports against opponents such as Pablo Iglesias or

Xavier Trias Xavier Trias i Vidal de Llobatera (; born in Barcelona on 5 August 1946) is a Spanish politician, member of the Catalan European Democratic Party and was Mayor of Barcelona from July 2011 to June 2015. Among other responsibilities to the Governm ...

. In November 2014, together with Carlos Jimenez Villarejo, she presented the anti-corruption document that was approved in the “Yes We Can” constituent assembly of Podemos. At the end of the meeting, she was elected president of the Democratic Guarantees Commission of Podemos with 86.12% of the votes. She actively participated in the 2015 general election, coordinating the anti-corruption and judiciary program, on the reform of which she has published several documents. After the primaries, she was presented as the head of the list of the candidacy of We Can to the

for the

Toledo district Toledo District is the southernmost district in Belize, and Punta Gorda is the District capital. It is the second most developed region in the country (according to the Human Development Index (HDI)). The district has a diverse topography whic ...

. She was the only Podemos candidate to win a seat in

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, , ), or Castile La Mancha, is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and ...

. On January 13, 2016, the date on which the lower house was constituted, she was elected third vice president of Congress with the support of 71 deputies. In the general election of June 26, she revalidated the seat for Toledo, obtaining Teresa Arévalo for

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

a second seat for the United We Can Coalition in Castilla–La Mancha. On July 19, 2016, she was elected fourth vice president of the Congress of Deputies. In the general election of April 28, she was again elected deputy, this time of the electoral district of Madrid, occupying fourth place on the list of the United We Can coalition in that district. On May 21, she was elected by Congress as First Vice President. Since February 18, 2017, she has been a member of the national executive of Podemos, first as Secretary of Institutional Action and as of June 8, 2019 as Secretary of Democratic Regeneration and Policies against Corruption. She is the mother of two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elizo, Gloria 1966 births Living people 20th-century Spanish lawyers Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Spanish women lawyers 20th-century Spanish women