María del Mar Blanco Garrido (born 29 March 1974) is a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician. She has served as a member of the Basque Parliament (2009–2012), Congress of Deputies (2016–2019) and Assembly of Madrid (since 2021).

Biography

Born in Ermua, Biscay, Blanco was the younger sister of People's Party councillor

Miguel Ángel Blanco Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido (13 May 1968 – 13 July 1997) was a Spanish politician who was a councillor in Ermua in the Basque Country for the People's Party (PP). He was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by the separatist group ETA. Biog ...

, who was kidnapped and murdered by ETA at the age of 29 in 1997. Their parents Consuelo and Miguel, who migrated from 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 ...

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, both died in March 2020; their former died of COVID-19. Blanco had finished studying tourism shortly before the assassination of her brother. She was elected to the Basque Parliament in the 2009 Basque regional election, 6th in the PP's list in Álava. In the 2012 election, the party fell to five seats in that constituency but still wanted her presence in parliament at the expense of someone further up the list; she relinquished any claim of a seat. In October 2012, Blanco became president of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation (FVT). She was the 14th of 15 PP members elected by Madrid to the Congress of Deputies in the

2016 Spanish general election The 2016 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 26 June 2016, to elect the 12th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. No party h ...

. In the April 2019 election, the party fell to seven seats in the capital constituency, but

Daniel Lacalle Daniel Lacalle Fernández (born 5 August 1967) is a Spanish economist. He works as an investment manager and as a professor of global economics. He is the author of several economics books as well as being a columnist and contributor to various ...

and Andrea Levy renounced their seats to let Blanco and

Juan Ignacio Echániz ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanis ...

take office. In the November 2019 Spanish general election, Blanco led the PP in the Álava constituency. With just under 15%, the party elected no members in the constituency for the second consecutive time. She worked as a consultant on housing for the City Council of Madrid until being elected to the Assembly of Madrid in the 2021 regional election. Around the

2023 Spanish general election The 2023 Spanish general election will be held no later than Sunday, 10 December 2023, to elect the 15th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies will be up for election, as well as 208 of 265 seats in th ...

, Blanco endorsed the slogan "

Let Txapote vote for you "Let Txapote vote for you" ( es, ¡Que te vote Txapote!; full version: , "Let Txapote vote for you, Sánchez!") is a political slogan that was popular among the political right and far-right in Spain during the months prior to the 2023 general e ...

" against the prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez. "Txapote" was the nickname of

Francisco Javier García Gaztelu Francisco Javier García Gaztelu (12 February 1966), alias "Txapote", is a Basque separatist militant who is responsible for the assassination of several Basque politicians. He is also known by the aliases ''Perretxiko, Jon'', ''Xabier'', and ''O ...

, one of the murderers of her brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Maria Del Mar 1974 births Living people People from Ermua People's Party (Spain) politicians Members of the 9th Basque Parliament Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 13th Assembly of Madrid Members of the People's Parliamentary Group (Assembly of Madrid)