Rita Maestre Fernández (born 1988) is a Spanish political scientist and politician. A member of the

Madrid City Council The City Council of Madrid ( es, Ayuntamiento de Madrid) is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The City Council is composed by three bodies; the Mayor who leads the City Council an ...

since 2015, she served as Spokesperson of the municipal government board presided by

Manuela Carmena Manuela Carmena Castrillo (; born in 1944) is a retired Spanish lawyer and judge who served as Mayor of Madrid from June 2015 to June 2019. She was a member of the General Council of the Judiciary. Biography Early life She was born on 9 Feb ...

from 2015 to 2019.

Biography

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on 13 April 1988, she grew up in the neighborhood of Ventas. She is daughter of civil servants, her father having worked for the Tax Agency and her mother for the City Council. Graduated in political science at 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 ...

( UCM) she later took post-graduate studies in International Economy. She was a founder of the ''Juventud sin Futuro'' group in 2011 and took part in the 15-M protests. A collaborator in LaTuerka TV show, she joined Podemos, helping in the party campaign for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. Following the October 2014 Podemos meeting in Vistalegre, Maestre became a member of the party's ''Citizen Council'' in the Constituent Assembly celebrated a month later. She ran 5th in the

Ahora Madrid Ahora Madrid ( en, Madrid Now) was a citizen platform of popular unity, formed as an ''instrumental party without organic internal life'', in order to stand for the municipal elections of 2015 in the city of Madrid. For this project, '' Gane ...

list for the May 2015 Madrid municipal election, being elected to the City Council. As

was invested as the new Mayor on 13 June, Maestre was included in the municipal government board (''Junta de Gobierno'') assuming the government area of "Spokeswomanship, Coordination of the Government Board and Relations with the Plenary". She also briefly held the councillery-presidency of the

Salamanca district Salamanca District is one of eight districts of the province Condesuyos in Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , oth ...

. Days after assuming office, she was charged with a transgression of "offense to religious feelings" due to her participation in a 2011 pro-laicist protest in the chapel of the UCM Faculty of Psychology, for which she was initially sentenced to pay 4,320 € in March 2016, ultimately being fully acquitted in December 2016 after appealing to a higher judicial instance. Maestre stood as challenger to the leadership of the regional organization of Podemos 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 ...

. Considered linked to the ' ''errejonista''' faction, her candidature "Adelante Podemos" was beaten by Ramón Espinar's "Juntas Podemos" in the November 2016 primary election. Following the renouncement of Maestre and other 5 councillors members of Podemos and also members of the municipal group of

to run in the Podemos process to select the candidates to the 2019 municipal election (pending potential mergings into a wider candidature), preferring to directly do it instead in the

Más Madrid Más Madrid ( en, "More Madrid") is a progressive regional political party in Spain. Its primary strength is located in the city of Madrid. It advocates for participatory democracy and promotes green politics, having cooperated with like-minded ...

platform around Carmena, all 6 councillors' individual memberships to Podemos were suspended in a precautionary basis in November 2018 after a request by Julio Rodríguez. She ran 3rd in the

list for the May 2019 Madrid municipal election, being elected to the City Council. Even though

won the elections, Carmena could not continue as mayor of the capital of Spain due to a pact to form a coalition government made by the People’s Party,

Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

and Vox. After Carmena left public life, primaries took place so as to choose the spokesperson of

in the City Council. She won the primaries to

Marta Higueras Marta María Higueras Garrobo (born 1964) is a Spanish criminal mediator, linked to the judicial sector from the start of her career. From 2015 to 2019, she served as First Deputy Mayor of Madrid and a councillor in the Department of Equality, Soc ...

, becoming the leader of the opposition to government of the conservative mayor

José Luis Martínez-Almeida José Luis Martínez-Almeida Navasqüés (born 17 April 1975) is a Spanish state lawyer and politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), he has been a member of the Madrid City Council since 2015 and has been Mayor of Madrid since 2019. B ...

. In May 2023 Madrid municipal election she ran as candidate of

for mayor of Madrid.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maestre, Rita Madrid city councillors (2015–2019) Podemos (Spanish political party) politicians 1988 births Living people Madrid city councillors (2019–2023) Complutense University of Madrid alumni