The expression red belt ( es, Cinturón rojo) is used to designate in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

, since the return to democracy in the last decades of the 20th century, the set of cities located in the southern part of the metropolitan area of the city of Madrid, characterized by their high population of workers or working class and because of their long history with mayors 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 ...

or other left parties and coalitions such as the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving as ...

or the United Left, representing a total of 21% of the population residing in the Community of Madrid, with six out of the ten most populated municipalities of the region belonging to the red belt. The name is also used to talk about the southern districts of the city of Madrid. As of the 2010s, there was also talk in this country of a "purple belt" in reference to the emergence, with a notable implantation in the red belt, of the new Podemos party, whose color is purple instead of the traditional red of the left-wing parties.

Municipalities of the Madrilenian «red belt»

{, class="wikitable" , colspan="3" , Municipality , Population (2021){{Cite web , title=Madrid (España): Provincia & Municipios - Estadísticas de población, gráficos y mapa , url=https://www.citypopulation.de/es/spain/madrid/ , access-date=2022-11-15 , website=www.citypopulation.de , Mayor , Term start , colspan="2" , Party (2019-2023) , Parties in local government since 1979 , - , Escudo de Alcorcon

Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...

, 170 817 (7th) , Natalia de Andrés , align="center" , 2019 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

PSOE 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 ...

(Coalition) , 1979-1999 (PSOE); 2003-2011 (PSOE); 2019- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Arganda del Rey

Arganda del Rey Arganda del Rey () is a municipality and city of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. Geography Located in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula, the city lies at roughly 613 metres above sea level, not far from the junction of the J ...

, 56 386 (21st) , Guillermo Hita , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Majority) , 1979-1999 (PCE, IU); 1999-2003 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Coslada

Coslada Coslada () is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Madrid in central Spain. The is located in Coslada, which has become a major logistics hub in the country. Due to the area's close proximity to the Madrid–Barajas Airport ...

, 81 273 (15th) , Ángel Viveros , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1982-1983 (PSOE); 1983-1999 (PCE, IU); 1999-2003 (PSOE); 2007-2011 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Fuenlabrada

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

, , 192 233 (4th) , Javier Ayala , align="center" , 2018 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Majority) , 1979- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Getafe

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, , 183 095 (6th) , Sara Hernández , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-2011 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Leganes

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

, , 187 762 (5th) , Santiago Llorente , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-2007 (PSOE); 2007-2011 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Escudo Mejorada del Campo

Mejorada del Campo Mejorada del Campo is a municipality of Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. History Mejorada del Campo is first mentioned in a 1247 document, as one of the several places belonging to the personal lordship of the Bishops of Segovia sou ...

, 23 737 (33rd) , Jorge Capa , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1978-1982 (PCE); 1982-1995 (PSOE); 1995-1999 (IU); 1999-2011 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Coat of Arms of Móstoles

Móstoles Móstoles () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. With over 200,000 inhabitants, it is the region's second most populated municipality after Madrid. Móstoles was a small town for a long time, but expanded rapidly in the ...

, 209 639 (2nd) , Noelia Posse , align="center" , 2018 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-2003 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Parla

Parla Parla () is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the region, approximately 20 km from the capital, Madrid. History Origins Earliest evidence of human occupation includes stone tools m ...

, , 131 689 (9th) , Ramón Jurado , align="center" , 2019 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-2015 (PSOE); 2019- (PSOE) , - , COA of Pinto Madrid

Pinto Pinto is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, Sephardi Jews, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian language, Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an officia ...

, 53 537 (22nd) , Juan Diego Ortiz , align="center" , 2019 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-1987 (PCE); 1987-1995 (IU); 1995-2007 (PSOE); 2008-2011 (PSOE); 2015-2019 (Ganemos Pinto); 2019- (PSOE) , - , Escudo de Rivas-Vaciamadrid

Rivas-Vaciamadrid Rivas-Vaciamadrid () is the 15th most populated city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It belongs to the Madrid metropolitan area and is located just 15 km from central Madrid, to the south-east. In the southern part of the municipality, the ...

, 92 925 (12th) , Aída Castillejo , align="center" , 2022 , bgcolor="#c8102e" , , align="center" , IU (Coalition) , 1987-1991 (PSOE); 1991- (IU) , - , Escudo de San Fernando de Henares

San Fernando de Henares San Fernando de Henares is a municipality in Spain, in the province and autonomous community of Madrid. It has an area of 39.9 km² and 41,380 inhabitants. Its agricultural production includes olives, cereals, vegetables, cattle and wool. Its ...

, 39 313 (25th) , Francisco Javier Corpa , align="center" , 2019 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-1991 (PCE, IU); 1991-1995 (PSOE); 1995-2015 (IU); 2015-2019 (Podemos); 2019- (PSOE) , - , ,

San Martín de la Vega San Martín de la Vega is a Spanish municipality located in Comarca de Las Vegas, Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre ...

, , 19 853 (36th) , Rafael Martínez , align="center" , 2015 , bgcolor="#EE1C25" , , align="center" ,

(Coalition) , 1979-2007 (PSOE); 2015- (PSOE)

Notes and references

Community of Madrid Politics of Madrid Belt regions Left-wing politics in Spain