Francisco de la Torre Prados

Francisco de la Torre Prados (born 21 December 1942) is a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician who has been the mayor of Málaga since 2000. He has also been president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga (1971–1975), a member of the Congress of Deputies (1977–1982) and Senate (2011–2014).

He began his political career in 1971 as president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga, being dismissed in 1975 by the Francoist government for his liberal views. He served in the Congress of Deputies as a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre, and was elected to Málaga City Council in 1995. He was part of the local government of Celia Villalobos and succeeded her as mayor in 2000.

De la Torre has won six local elections, though in 2015 and 2019 his party needed support from Citizens to form a majority in the city hall. He has been awarded the Legion of Honour by France, the Medal of Pushkin by Russia, and is an honorary member of the Order of the British Empire.

Early life and career Born in Málaga, De la Torre graduated in Sociology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, earned a doctorate in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Madrid, and graduated in Regional Development from the University of Rennes in France. In 1971, aged 28, he was appointed president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga under the Francoist dictatorship, and was dismissed in 1975 due to his liberal views. He quit this post in June 2014 to concentrate on the upcoming mayoral elections.

De la Torre's party retained their majority in Málaga city hall in 2003, 2007 and 2011, but in 2015 they had to form a coalition with Citizens; this result still made him the PP mayor of the largest city; he blamed national corruption scandals for the party's decline in popularity. In 2019, he needed the support of the two Citizens councillors to form a majority for his sixth mandate.

De la Torre suffered a stroke in April 2020. After a month in hospital, he returned to work. Later in May, he marked 20 years as mayor. An article in La Opinión de Málaga was mostly positive on his two decades, apart from some expensive failed projects such as the Museum of Gems, and sanitation worker strikes. His party returned to majority government for the first time in eight years, increasing their share from 14 to 17 of the 31 seats amidst the wipeout of Citizens. In May 2025, he marked a quarter of a century as mayor. In July 2026, the PP announced its candidates for mayors of provincial capitals in the next year's elections, including De la Torre, who would be 84.

Honours In October 2017, De la Torre was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour on the 50th anniversary of Málaga's French community organisation. In November 2018, President of Russia Vladimir Putin made him the first Spanish recipient of the Medal of Pushkin, for having opened museums of Russian art in the city. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he faced calls to return the medal and close the museum.

In September 2021, he was appointed Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to bilateral relations between Málaga and the UK.