Cristina Coto

Cristina Coto
Coto in 2015
President of Asturias Forum
In office
14 March 2015 – 15 June 2018
Preceded byFrancisco Álvarez-Cascos
Succeeded byCarmen Moriyón
Member of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias
In office
2003–2011
In office
2012–2018
Member of Oviedo City Council
In office
2011–2019
Personal details
Born (1970-03-06) 6 March 1970 (age 53)
Sotrondio, Asturias, Spain
Political partyPeople's Party (fl. 1994–2011)
Asturias Forum (2011–after 2018)
Vox (fl. 2019–present)
SpouseJosé Bernardo Pino (m. 2016)
Alma materUniversity of Oviedo
University of Barcelona

Cristina Coto de la Mata (born 6 March 1970) is a Spanish politician who was president of the Asturias Forum (2015–2018) and was a deputy in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias (2003–2011; 2012–2018) and in the Oviedo City Council [es] (2011–2019). Prior to being elected to office, she was a lawyer and a People's Party regional official.

Biography

Cristina Coto de la Mata was born on 6 March 1970 in Sotrondio, a small town in Asturias.[1] Her father Jesus Coto (1939/1940 – 15 November 2021) was a bank manager who worked for Banco Popular Español.[1][2] She was educated at the University of Oviedo (where she studied law) and the University of Barcelona (where she got a Master's Degree in Organizational Communication Management).[1][3] She practiced law from 1998 until 2003.[3]

In 1994, Coto joined the New Generations of the People's Party, the youth wing of the People's Party (PP).[3] In 1999, she became the party's secretary of municipal organization.[3] In 2002, she was appointed as the PP's organization coordinator for Asturias.[3] She was elected deputy of the party's parliamentary group in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias after the 2003 Asturian regional election.[3] She was re-elected to the parliamentary group after the 2007 election.[4]

On 3 February 2011, Coto resigned from the General Junta; she also left the PP to join the Asturias Forum, a recently-created regional party founded by former PP Secretary-General (and later President of the Principality of Asturias) Francisco Álvarez-Cascos.[5] The party later gained control of the Asturias government after the 2011 Asturian regional election, and Coto returned to the General Junta as a member of the Forum; she was also one of the two secretaries of the 8th General Junta of the Principality of Asturias.[6] Coto was appointed as the party's parliamentary spokesperson in November 2011.[7] She was later re-elected to Asturias Forum's parliamentary group in the 2012 and 2015 Asturian regional elections.[8][9]

In February 2015, Álvarez-Cascos resigned as president of Asturias Forum.[10] Coto was elected as the party's new president in a congress held on 14 March 2015.[11] On 15 June 2018, she resigned as president of the Forum, due to differences with the leadership, and as leader of the Forum's General Junta parliamentary group.[12] She resigned from the General Junta on 27 June.[9]

In January 2019, Coto was announced as the Vox candidate for mayor of Oviedo in the 2019 Spanish local elections.[13] She was one of the two councillors elected to Oviedo City Council [es].[14] In the 2023 Spanish local elections, she was not re-appointed as a Vox candidate for mayor or as a candidate on the council's electoral lists.[15][16]

Coto was a contributor to the Asturian-language newspaper Les Noticies.[17]

Personal life

In 2007, she filed a complaint against harassment against Luis Madiedo, a party official for the PP's Gijón division.[18] Madiedo was expelled from the party, and he was ordered by a local court to pay Coto 20 euros every day for 20 days and to comply with a restraining order towards Coto.[18]

On 8 October 2016, she married former rally driver José Bernardo Pino.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c PRESEDO, A. (18 March 2007). "La secretaria que llegó al Parlamento regional". Las Provincias. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  2. ^ B, L. (16 November 2021). "Fallece a los 81 años Jesús Coto, padre de la edil de Vox, Cristina Coto de la Mata". La Nueva España (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "La abogada que coge el testigo de Cascos". El Comercio. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  4. ^ General Junta 2023, p. 19.
  5. ^ "La diputada del PP, Cristina Coto, renuncia a su escaño". La Nueva España. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  6. ^ General Junta 2023, p. 21.
  7. ^ GALLEGO, P. (29 November 2011). "Foro sopesa que Cristina Coto sea su nueva portavoz en la Junta". La Nueva España. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  8. ^ General Junta 2023, p. 24.
  9. ^ a b General Junta 2023, p. 26.
  10. ^ DEL GALLO, PATRICIA (12 February 2015). "Cascos anuncia que no se presentará como cabeza de lista de Foro a las autonómicas de Asturias". El Mundo. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Cristina Coto, elegida presidenta de Foro en sustitución de Álvarez-Cascos". La Vanguardia. 14 March 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  12. ^ Ardura, J. A. (16 June 2018). "Cristina Coto dimite como presidenta y portavoz de Foro: "Es hora de decir basta"". La Nueva España (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  13. ^ TUÑÓN, P. (14 January 2019). "Vox elige a Cristina Coto, expresidenta de Foro, para liderar su lista en Oviedo". La Nueva España. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Estos son los concejales del ayuntamiento de Oviedo". La Voz de Asturias (in Spanish). 26 May 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  15. ^ Blanco, Lucas (27 April 2023). "Objetivo, el Ayuntamiento de Oviedo: estos son los 324 nombres que concurren a las municipales". La Nueva España (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Cristina Coto no será la candidata de Vox para la alcaldía de Oviedo". La Voz de Asturias (in Spanish). 31 March 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Les Noticies recibió munches crítiques porque importaba". Les Noticies. 17 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  18. ^ a b "El juez condena a un dirigente del PP asturiano por acosar a una compañera". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). 14 March 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  19. ^ del Soto, Carmen. "Cristina Coto sí quiere". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 August 2023.