First Madrid government Proposed as a candidate for the Presidency of the Community of Madrid by the President of the
Assembly of Madrid,
Juan Trinidad, who had previously prevented an investiture session for Ángel Gabilondo by scheduling an investiture session without a candidate in July 2019, Díaz Ayuso was sworn in as President of the regional government on 14 August, with 68 votes in favour (corresponding to members of the Popular, Citizens' and Vox parliamentary groups in Madrid) and 64 against (corresponding to members of the Socialist, Más Madrid and United We Can-Madrid en Pie parliamentary groups). In January 2020, she hired
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Bajón as chief of staff. Her vice president,
Ignacio Aguado, then explained his disagreement with the decision. On 1 December 2020, Díaz Ayuso inaugurated the
Hospital Isabel Zendal, praised by her government but heavily criticised by the opposition for its cost overruns and its use as an "advertising campaign". After
Storm Filomena, the opposition criticised her government performance, accusing it of "lack of anticipation" against the incidences caused by the storm, that seriously damaged some infrastructure and parks in the region as well as trapping many citizens of the region for the night on the road, with snow accumulation of more than 50 centimeters in some points.
COVID-19 pandemic Six months after Díaz Ayuso's inauguration as President of the Community of Madrid, the
COVID-19 pandemic reached Spain with special virulence in the Community of Madrid. In accordance with the
state of alarm decreed by the
Spanish government on 14 March 2020, the government of the Community of Madrid, like the other autonomous communities, took immediate measures [required clarification] such as the closure of schools and leisure centres, shows and sports events, retired people's day centres, religious celebrations, the closure of hotels and tourist accommodation, shops considered not to be of basic need and the limitation of travel to those needed to go to work or buy food. It also adopted protection measures in public transport, and tax reductions in the payment of Business Tax (IAE) and Property Tax (IBI) for leisure, hotel and commercial premises, travel agencies and large stores, on the condition that they maintain the jobs until the end of the year. Presential activity was suspended in all Community Citizen Service offices, and
remote work was encouraged. In view of the saturation of hospital services, Díaz Ayuso's government used the ferial enclosure IFEMA as an emergency hospital, which emploed 5,500 hospital beds in order to attend to all patients. IFEMA hospital was built in a record time of less than 2 weeks, and the idea of the emergency hospital gave rise to the future Zendal Hospital, inaugurated a few months later. Hotels in Madrid were also used to look after less sick patients. Ayuso stopped appearing before the Madrid Assembly on 5 March 2020, and the chamber was closed for more than a month. Díaz Ayuso was criticised for delivering high-quality FFP2 and FFP3 protective masks to the citizens of the
Community of Madrid for free, which arguably could result in these kinds of masks becoming scarce in hospitals – it was later revealed that hospitals were also well-supplied with this equipment. In May 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic in Spain, her Director General of Public Health,
Yolanda Fuentes, resigned, disagreeing with Díaz Ayuso's decision to request the transfer from phase 0 to phase 1 of the confinement, because it was not based on "health criteria", a position Ayuso reportedly took after a meeting with businessmen. Díaz Ayuso opposed the request of her coalition partners, the
Citizens party, for the army to intervene in retirement homes. However, the army did so, against her own criteria, finding corpses and people "in extreme situations and in poor sanitary conditions. However, six days later, the central government approved the State of Alarm for the Community of Madrid following unsuccessful talks and confrontation between Díaz Ayuso and PM Pedro Sánchez. On 20 October 2020, two health officials of the Ayuso administration (the manager of Primary Attention and the manager of Hospitals) handed in their resignation.
2021 snap election On 10 March 2021, following an announcement by the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and
Citizens (Cs) to bring down the
People's Party-led government in the
Region of Murcia, Díaz Ayuso announced the breakup of her alliance with Cs in her own region and called a
snap election in the Community of Madrid scheduled for 4 May. However, both the PSOE and
Más Madrid preventively filed
motions of no confidence in an attempt to thwart Díaz Ayuso's move. She approved tax reform in April 2021 to lower the estate and gift tax. Following her party's victory in the
May elections, she was able to form a new government of the
People's Party of the Community of Madrid with the external support of
Vox, after her former colleagues of Citizens failed to gain a single seat.
Second Madrid government On 31 August 2021, she announced her intention to contest the leadership of the regional branch of the party, a position left vacant since the resignation of former President
Cristina Cifuentes. In February 2022, Spanish media revealed Diaz Ayuso’s People’s Party made repeated attempts to illegally spy on her in the hope of obtaining sensitive information and blackmailing her out of the race to seize control of the Madrid branch of the party. The party’s federal leadership closed in on then-unreleased allegations Ayuso’s brother was involved in €1.5 M worth of healthcare material purchased by her administration at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 in Spain. When disclosed, she reacted by insisting her brother’s business deals were performed according to law and received no special treatment, whilst publicly accusing her party’s top officials of conspiring against her. The scandal was sealed with the resignation of both PP President Pablo Casado and Deputy President García Egea, Ayuso herself managing to survive relatively unscathed and emboldened in her bid for the party’s leadership in Madrid. Between 200,000 and 670,000 demonstrators gather on 13 November 2022 in Madrid to defend the public health system in the region and against a proposed reform of the sector. The demonstration is aimed at the health policies of Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who wants to develop
public-private partnerships and restructure the community care system. According to the unions, these services have been under pressure for several years, due to a lack of resources and personnel, and to poor regional management.
Third Madrid government Following the
2023 Madrilenian regional election, the People's Party obtained its first absolute majority under her leadership, which allowed her to govern without the need of the far-right Vox for the first time. == Political positions ==