“The elections are to sell detergent”

“We are good enough to vote, but the institute is the same as 50 years ago,” protests Isabel, retired, waiting her turn to enter the Bankia de Cenicientos office, which is only open on Tuesday mornings. In the southwest corner of the Community of Madrid, almost in Toledo, almost in Ávila, in Cenicientos there are just over 2,000 people. Almost no one makes a living here with the Garnacha grape vineyards or with oil, the traditional products of the land. Masonry, which proliferated in the good years of the housing bubble, has also practically disappeared. With an average disposable income of 16,313 euros in 2020, according to the Tax Agency, Cenicientos is the poorest municipality in Madrid and, among the few neighbors seen on the streets on a Tuesday with intermittent rain, the regional elections on May 4 are contemplated There is almost more philosophical distance than geographical distance from Puerta del Sol.