Álvaro Queipo Somoano (born 9 May 1988) is a Spanish politician of the People's Party (PP). He was a town councillor in

Castropol Castropol is a municipality in Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of a Parroquia (Spain), parish within the municipality and a town within the parish. The municipality of Castropol has a population of 3696 (Instituto Nacional de Estadística d ...

from 2011 to 2020, and was elected to the

General Junta of the Principality of Asturias The General Junta of the Principality of Asturias (in Spanish language, Spanish: ''Junta General del Principado de Asturias'', in Asturian Language, Asturian: ''Xunta Xeneral del Principáu d'Asturies'') is the parliament of Asturias, an autonomou ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Since 2022, he has led the People's Party of Asturias.

Biography

Queipo was born in

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, and raised in

from the age of six. His father was a tax administrator and his mother a building society employee, while one of his grandfathers was the first democratically elected mayor of

Cangas del Narcea Cangas del Narcea is the oldest municipality in the Principality of Asturias in Spain. It is also the largest municipality in Asturias. It is in the southwest of Asturias, on the Asturian border with León. Until 1927, Cangas del Narcea was kno ...

. Queipo received an award from the

President of the Principality of Asturias The President of the Principality of Asturias (; ) is the head of Government of the Principality of Asturias, government of the Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. The president is chosen by the General Junt ...

Vicente Álvarez Areces Vicente Alberto Álvarez Areces (4 August 1943 – 17 January 2019), also known as Tini Areces, was a Spanish politician. He served as the sixth President of the Principality of Asturias in Spain, and he was a member of the Spanish Socialist Wor ...

, for having the best

Spanish Baccalaureate The Spanish Baccalaureate (, ) is the post-16 stage of education in Spain, comparable to the A Levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Highers in Scotland, the French Baccalaureate in France or the International Baccalaureate. It follow ...

results in the region in 2006. He graduated with degrees in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

from the

University of Oviedo The University of Oviedo (, Asturian: ''Universidá d'Uviéu'') is a public university in Asturias (Spain). It is the only university in the region. It has three campus and research centres, located in Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres. History Th ...

. Queipo has been champion of Asturias in rowing, and twice a bronze medallist in national championships. Queipo joined the People's Party (PP) in 2008 and was elected to the town council in Castropol in 2011. In 2013, he became PP leader in the town and ended a prospective split that would have limited the party to two seats on the council; he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2015. In the 2019 local elections, he did not run as list leader in the town, as he was also list leader in the Western District constituency in the

regional election In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. He was elected in both elections. In November 2020, after being named secretary-general of the People's Party of Asturias, Queipo resigned his local offices. Two years later, after the resignation of Teresa Mallada, he was put in interim charge of the party. In October 2023,

Diego Canga Diego Canga Fano (born 25 December 1964) is a Spanish civil servant for the European Union. He was the lead People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP) candidate in the 2023 Asturian regional election, and sat in the General Junta of the Principal ...

resigned from the legislature and Queipo was chosen unanimously as the parliamentary spokesperson of the PP, and therefore leader of the opposition to the

Second government of Adrián Barbón The second government of Adrián Barbón was formed on 1 August 2023, following the latter's reelection as President of the Principality of Asturias by the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias on 19 July and his swearing-in on 27 July, a ...

. The following month, he took 95.8% of the vote to become the official leader of the PP in Asturias, after a history of internal divisions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Queipo, Alvaro 1988 births Living people Politicians from Oviedo People from Eo-Navia University of Oviedo alumni Spanish male rowers Spanish industrial engineers People's Party (Spain) politicians Members of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias