José Luis Sanz Ruiz (born 21 September 1968) is a Spanish politician. He served as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from 2011 to 2023 with a brief interlude in 2019, and as a member of the

Parliament of Andalusia The Parliament of Andalusia () is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. Functions *To elect the ...

from 2000 to 2012. He was mayor of Tomares from 2007 to 2021, and mayor of

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

since

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Personal life

Born in

, Sanz graduated in Business and Economic Studies from the

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, in 2022 it has a student body of 57,214,U-Ranking Universidades español ...

. As of 2021, he has a son and a daughter.

Political career

Local politics

Sanz joined the People's Party (PP) in 1990. He was elected mayor of Tomares in the in 2007, serving until he was chosen in 2021 as the PP candidate for mayor of Seville in the 2023 election. Prior to his time in office, Tomares had been dominated by the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE). His party came first with 14 out of 31 seats, requiring negotiations with the three councillors from Vox to form a government. The two parties did not form a coalition and Sanz became mayor in a minority government, with Vox warning him that he would need their support to pass a budget. In June 2024, disputes over the budget led to a vote of confidence in Sanz, which was approved by the 14 PP members and rejected by the 17 others. The opposition then had a 30-day window to propose a new candidate for mayor.

Senator

President of the Seville branch of the PP since 2007, Sanz was elected to the

Senate of Spain The Senate () is the upper house of the , which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. The presiding officer of the ...

by the Seville constituency in the 2011 general election. The result was a historic best for his party, which cut its deficit in the PSOE-dominated constituency by a quarter of a million votes and from 27

percentage points A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...

to 3.5. He lost his seat by a 2,500-vote margin in the April 2019 general election, winning it back in November. He said that he would not run in the

2023 Spanish general election A General elections in Spain, general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 23 July 2023, to elect the members of the 15th Cortes Generales. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Sen ...

in order to concentrate on being mayor of Seville.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanz, Jose Luis 1968 births Living people Politicians from Seville University of Seville alumni People's Party (Spain) politicians Mayors of places in Andalusia Mayors of Seville Members of the 6th Parliament of Andalusia Members of the 7th Parliament of Andalusia Members of the 8th Parliament of Andalusia Members of the 10th Senate of Spain Members of the 11th Senate of Spain Members of the 12th Senate of Spain Members of the 14th Senate of Spain