Isaura Navarro
Encyclopedia
Labour law
Labour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...
with a focus on worker's rights, due to obtaining the relevant qualifications in 1997. She has been the legal counsel of the Workers' Commissions
Workers' Commissions
The Workers' Commissions since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores , with the syndicalist Confederación General del Trabajo ...
Public Service and Public Administration Federation since the year 2000. In 2004 she was chosen to head the list of United Left
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...
in Valencia
Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the third largest district in Congress in terms of the numbers of deputies elected, as it elects sixteen deputies out of the total...
. With a drop in the overall United left vote, she won the 16th and final list seat, although a drop of less than 1800 votes would have cost her her seat. In 2005 she became part of the federal praesidium of United Left. In the 2008 election she lost her seat to the Popular Party.
She lives in the Carmen district, the historic centre of Valencia, where she is active in the Residents Association, providing legal advice to the Commercial and Residential Association. She is also a member and supporter of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
.
Politics
Navarro's main focus is on social issues, women and the environment. She is an opponent of the construction of the high speed AVEAVE
Alta Velocidad Española is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . The name is literally translated from Spanish as "Spanish High Speed", but also a play on the word , meaning "bird".AVE trains run on a network of...
train in the Valencia region, arguing in the Cortes that it would be a train for the elite which would damage the environment and would harm the operation of conventional trains. She has been an active campaigner on gay, lesbian and transgender issues. She supports laws making it easier for people to officially leave the established churches. She also supports the decriminalisation of cannabis
Controversies and Navarro's response
Navarro became involved in controversy following an official trip to Peru when she was alleged to have asked for an official car for her partner who was an international observer for the upcoming electoral process, as well as allowing him to participate in official dinners without the knowledge of the Spanish foreign ministry. He also took part in discussions with the Peruvian foreign minister where he was accused of dressing inadequately for the occasion and not behaving in the appropriate manner. Navarro denied she had acted improperly, stating that her partner was accredited as an International Observer by the Peruvian National Electoral Commission and that neither the Spanish Embassy nor Spanish Government had objected to his participation. Navarro subsequently alleged that during the South American trip, she and others had been spied on by the Colombian secret services during participation in a forum in Colombia.She also sponsored a proposal which would have made Neighbourhood Watch schemes illegal on the grounds that these represented vigilantism, which is illegal in Spain.
The leadership of the Valencian Federation of United Left accused her of owing the organisation 10,000 Euros originating from her assets as a deputy. Navarro herself said she would not deposit the money, as she was part of an internal dispute between her internal tendency in IU and the Valencian leadership. She later paid her dues to the Federal Leadership of IU.
2008 General elections
In October 2007, she announced that she would be supporting Gaspar LlamazaresGaspar Llamazares
Gaspar Llamazares Trigo is a Spanish politician. He was the leader of the leftist coalition Izquierda Unida from 2001 to 2008, in the post of General Coordinator. He is a member of Communist Party of Spain ....
as candidature for the nomination as Prime Ministerial candidate for IU in the 2008 Spanish general election
Spanish general election, 2008
Legislative elections for the Spanish Cortes Generales were held on March 9, 2008. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain...
stating that he would be the best non-sectarian candidate for all the left wing parties making up the coalition. As a result of divisions in IU, Navarro was challenged for the number one place on the Valencia list by Antonio Montalbán with sections of the organisation hostile to the current leader Llamazares also opposed to Navarro's reselection. On November 18, 2007 at an Assembly held in Burjassot
Burjassot
Burjassot is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Nord in the Valencian Community, Spain. The footballer José Carlos Cerveró was born there on 11th December 1979....
Navarro was replaced as head of the Valencia list by Montalbán. The IU leadership later reviewed and upheld this decision. Consequently, Navarro left IU and stood in the election as head of the list for a broader coalition which included left wing, regional and environmental parties: the Valencian People's Initiative (Iniciativa del Poble Valencià), Valencian Nationalist Bloc (Bloc Nacionalista Valencià) and The Greens (Els Verds). However the list polled only 1.33% of the votes cast, a drop compared to the 2004 election and consequently Navarro lost her seat.
