Madrid:Two influential female ministers in the Spanish cabinet have left the government to campaign in elections for mayor in Madrid and the Canary Islands respectively, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in Madrid on Monday. Health Minister Carolina Darias is to be replaced by José Manuel Miñones. Darias is to seek election as mayor in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the city of her birth, in a vote on May 28. And Héctor Gómez is to replace María Reyes Maroto at Industry, Trade and Tourism. She is seeking election as mayor of Madrid on the same day. Despite the departures and being replaced by two men, Sánchez’s left-wing government will still have 12 female cabinet members to 11 male, not counting Sánchez himself. The reshuffle is the fifth in the current parliament and the seventh since Sánchez, who heads the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), took office in June 2018. (DPA)
