María José García-Pelayo Jurado (born 6 January 1968)[1] is a Spanish
People's Party (PP) politician. She has served on the city council of her hometown of
Jerez de la Frontera since 1995, with three spells as mayor (2003–2005; 2011–2013; 2023–). She has also sat in both houses of the
Cortes Generales including three spells in the
Senate (2011–2015; 2022–2023; 2023–), and in the
Parliament of Andalusia (1996–2011).
Biography
Born in
Jerez de la Frontera,
Andalusia, García-Pelayo graduated with a law degree from the
University of Cádiz.[2] She was introduced to politics at age 24 by
Miguel Arias Cañete, a
law firm colleague who later became a government minister.[1] First elected to her hometown's city council in 1995, she became mayor for the first time in 2003. She later reflected that she did not feel that she was mayor due to the dominance of her predecessor and coalition party, Pedro Pacheco of the
Socialist Party of Andalusia (PSA).[1] In January 2005, a
motion of no confidence in her was supported by the PSA and handed the mayoralty to Pilar Sánchez of the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).[3]
García-Pelayo served in the
provincial deputation of the
Province of Cádiz as the PP spokesperson from 1999 to 2003, as well as serving in the
Parliament of Andalusia where she was vice president.[2] In June 2011, she was sworn in for a second term as mayor, after her party took 15 seats on the council.[4] She left the regional parliament at the end of 2011, after being elected to the
Senate of Spain in the
general election.[5] In the 2015 local elections, the PP was the most voted in Jerez with 11 seats, but lost power to a three-way pact between the PSOE, Ganemos Jerez and the
United Left (IU).[6] Later that year, she was investigated by the
Supreme Court of Spain for alleged perversion of justice and falsification of documents, while other local members of her party were investigated in the
Gürtel case.[7] The case against her was dropped in May 2016.[8]
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abcSánchez Múgica, Francisco (12 June 2011).
"La niña de la calle Almenillas" [The girl from Almenillas Street]. Diario de Jerez (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2024.