Lorena Roldán

Lorena Roldán Suárez (born 7 August 1981)[1] is a Spanish politician. She has served as a member of the Parliament of Catalonia (2015–) and a Senator (2018–2021). Previously a member of Citizens, she joined the People's Party in 2020.

Biography

Roldán was born in Tarragona, Catalonia, as the only child of a family of maternal Asturian and paternal Andalusian descent. She has an uncle who was voted onto the city council for the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), a Catalan separatist party. She obtained a bachelor's and a master's degree in law from the local University of Rovira i Virgili.[1]

Roldán took part in the Catalan Way, a pro-independence event in 2013. She later said that this was down to pressure from her employers at the provincial deputation of Tarragona.[2]

Roldán joined Citizens (Cs) in 2014. She was elected to her city's council in July 2015, and resigned that seat three months later when she was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia by the Tarragona constituency.[1] In April 2018, she was named to the Senate of Spain by the Citizens group in the Parliament of Catalonia.[3] She became the party's spokesperson in the Senate.[4]

In July 2019, Roldán took 86.6% of the votes in the primaries to be Cs' candidate for President of the Government of Catalonia in the 2021 Catalan regional election.[5] In August 2020, the party's executive led by Inés Arrimadas unanimously stripped her of the candidacy and gave it to Carlos Carrizosa, with the reasoning that it wanted a candidate who had only held public office at the regional level.[6]

Roldán was the candidate for president of the Generalitat in an October 2019 motion of no confidence in incumbent Quim Torra. The motion failed with 40 votes in favour from her party and the People's Party (PP), 76 votes against, and 17 abstentions by the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC).[7]

On 30 December 2020, Roldán defected to the PP. In her announcement speech, she praised Citizens founder Albert Rivera, but did not mention Arrimadas.[8] She was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia again in March 2021, this time by the Barcelona constituency as second on the list behind People's Party of Catalonia leader Alejandro Fernández; she did not officially join the party until that October.[9] In April 2022, she became her new party's spokesperson in Catalonia.[10]

References
  1. "Lorena Roldán, el recambio de Arrimadas que participó en protestas independentistas" [Lorena Roldán, Arrimadas's replacement who participated in pro-independence protests] (in Spanish). Cadena COPE. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  2. Mascaró, Anna (23 February 2019). "Lorena Roldán, de la Via Catalana a perfilar-se com a possible nova líder de Ciutadans" [Lorena Roldán, from the Catalan Way to putting herself forward as the possible new leader of Citizens]. Ara (in Catalan). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  3. Alonso, Mariano (18 April 2018). "Ciudadanos nombra senadora a una diputada catalana que participó en la Diada de 2013" [Citizens name as senator a Catalan deputy who participated in the Diada in 2013] (in Spanish). Libertad Digital. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  4. "Lorena Roldán, candidata a los Premios Parlamentarios como senadora revelación" [Lorena Roldán, candidate for the Parliamentary Awards as Best New Senator]. Diari Més (in Spanish). 7 December 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  5. "Lorena Roldán gana las primarias de Ciudadanos en Cataluña con el 86% de los votos" [Lorena Roldán wins the Citizens primary in Catalonia with 86% of the vote] (in Spanish). RTVE. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  6. "Ciudadanos prescinde de Roldán y nombra candidato a la Generalitat a Carrizosa" [Citizens dispense with Roldán and name Carrizosa as candidate for the Generalitat]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Europa Press. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  7. Pi, Jaume (7 October 2019). "Fracasa la moción de censura de Cs a Torra con 76 votos en contra, 17 abstenciones y 40 apoyos" [Cs' motion of no confidence in Torra fails with 76 votes against, 17 abstentions and 40 votes in favour]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  8. Moraga, Carmen (30 December 2020). "La senadora y diputada del Parlament Lorena Roldán deja Ciudadanos y ficha por el PP para ir de número dos en las elecciones catalanas" [Senator and Catalan Parliament deputy Lorena Roldán leaves Citizens and signs for the PP to be number two on the list in the Catalan elections]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  9. Hurtado, Julio (8 October 2021). "Lorena Roldán anuncia que se afilia al PP, pero no desvela si aspira a liderar el partido en Tarragona" [Lorena Roldán announces that she is joining the PP, but does not reveal if she aspires to lead the party in Tarragona]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. "Lorena Roldán es nombrada portavoz del PP en Catalunya" [Lorena Roldán is named PP spokesperson in Catalonia]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 12 April 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
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