Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Spanish:[ˈriβasβaθjamaˈðɾið]) is the 15th most populated city in theCommunity of Madrid,Spain.[2] It belongs to theMadrid metropolitan area and is located just 15 km from centralMadrid, to the south-east. In the southern part of the municipality, the Manzanares river flows into the Jarama, which is part of theLower Manzanares and Jarama Rivers Regional Park. Almost three-quarters of the municipality form part of the park, making it an important ecological centre with numerous lakes and various species of wildlife and fauna.
Rivas-Vaciamadrid municipality has the fourth lowest rate of population at risk of poverty, among municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.[3] It is the most populated city in Spain governed byUnited Left.
In 1845, the area of Vaciamadrid, previously part of the village ofVallecas, was joined to the town of Rivas, with the unified municipality originally called Ribas de Jarama.
The area was devastated during theSpanish Civil War and had to be rebuilt in the post-civil war period. In 1954 the name was changed to its current title. At the end of the 1980s the area was designated as a future nucleus for new urbanisation projects under a project titled Rivas-Urbanizaciones (Rivas-Urbanisations). The first developments were those in the current districts of Pablo Iglesias and Covibar.
In 2004 the municipal boundary with the city ofMadrid was altered. This involved the transfer of areas known as Covibar-Madrid to Rivas-Vaciamadrid. In exchange, some uninhabited areas in Los Berrocales district were transferred to theVicálvaro district of Madrid in order to allow the construction of a new housing project.
Municipal elections results since 1979.Current number of city councillors by party (2023–2027).
Rivas-Vaciamadrid has always been governed by left-wing parties, mostlyUnited Left, that has remained uninterruptedly in power since 1991. The current mayor is Pedro del Cura, who took office in 2014 after José Masa's resignation, and was re-elected in 2015. However, the2015 election gave the worst result to United Left (24.5%) since its creation in 1986, due to the big support that thePodemos-linked candidacyRivas Puede (Spanish forRivas Can) obtained (23.3%).
Local election results in Rivas-Vaciamadrid (number of councillors)[4]
Thorough most of its modern democratic history, the municipality of Rivas has been ruled byUnited Left, belonging to the so-called "red belt" of the region. No right-of-centre party has ruled the municipality since theTransition.
The main road serving Rivas-Vaciamadrid is theA-3 motorway, that connectsMadrid withValencia. The exits to Rivas-Vaciamadrid are numbers 12 (West), 15 (Centre) and 17 (East).
The main public transport in Rivas-Vaciamadrid is the bus.[6] There are four lines connecting with Madrid and three connecting with other municipalities. Moreover, theMadrid Metroline 9 crosses the city on its way between Madrid andArganda del Rey, serving Rivas-Vaciamadrid with three stations:Rivas-Urbanizaciones in the west,Rivas Futura in the centre andRivas-Vaciamadrid in the east.
The main festivals are the festival of Romería del Cristo de Rivas (29 September), San Isidro (15 May), the festival of the Communist Party of Spain (second weekend of September) and the festivals of the Urbanisation La Partija on the 15 June.The Miguel Ríos amphitheatre and fairgrounds are also home to dozens of concerts and minor festivities throughout the year
Locally there are 15 kindergartens (6 public and 9 private), 14 public primary education schools, 5 secondary education institutions and two private schools.
