Spain Political Parties - VOX
Germany has Alternative for Germany, France has the National Front, Italy has The League and Spain now has VOX, the latest far-right actor to emerge on Europe’s political scene. Spain has not had a right-wing extremist party in parliament since Franco's death in 1975 and the return to democracy. All the crises of recent years, especially the Catalonia issue, drove voters to look for alternatives. But they do not hold extreme views.
Spain's ruling Socialists came in first in the 10 November 2019 general election but have fallen short of a majority. The far-right Vox party was on track to take third place with 52 seats, more than doubling its presence in parliament since the last election in April. Vox won seats in Spain's parliament earlier this year, becoming the first time a far-right party entered the legislature in four decades. Party leader Santiago Abascal said Vox's success was "the greatest political feat seen in Spain." "Just 11 months ago, we weren't even in any regional legislature in Spain. Today we are the third-largest party in Spain and the party that has grown the most in votes and seats," he said, promising to battle the "progressive dictatorship."
VOX made an unexpectedly strong showing in local elections 02 December 2018 in Andalusia, the Spanish southern region until now considered a Socialist bastion. The Socialist party and its far left ally, Podemos, lost seats and could no longer muster a governing majority in the regional parliament. Support for the mainstream center-right People’s Party and the Citizens party remained static while 11 percent of votes were swept up by VOX, whose support may be crucial to form a new regional government. “While polls anticipated gains by VOX, these results have exceeded all expectations by wide margins,” said Ignacio Jurado, a political science professor the University of York. VOX, he said, “becomes for the first time a parliamentary force in Spain.”
VOX leader Santiago Abascal, a political upstart whose violent discourses against immigration, feminism and regional separatism have gained him a strong national following, declared he would go on to “throw Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez out of the Moncloa,” the palace that serves as the official residence. VOX votes in Andalusia rose from 18,500 in the 2015 elections to almost 400,000 last month, and analysts expect the numbers to multiply by similar proportions in other parts of Spain.
Unlike other populist movements that are sweeping Europe, Spain’s emerging rightists are not necessarily pushing for an exit from the European Union. Abascal said he wanted to keep Spain in the European Union. He instead seeks to change the bloc from within and is focusing his strategy on winning seats in the European Parliament elections set for May 2019. Previously ignored, Europe’s leaders saw this year’s poll as the most decisive ever: a de facto referendum on modern European liberal democracy. At a meeting of far right parties in Belgium in December, French National Front leader Marine Le Pen called on like-minded forces to take control of the European parliament. She had earlier sent a message of congratulations to Abascal.
Iglesias’ Podemos party had until now been the main beneficiary of disenchantment with the bipartisan status quo that had prevailed in Spain for the past half century. Iglesias provided key parliamentary support for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to form a government earlier this year. But disdain for Spanish national symbols like the monarchy and the flag alienated many of the kingdom’s traditionally minded voters.
Abascal said much of his support is driven by growing African immigration, which he blames on what he says are overly permissive government policies. Analysts said the issue was undoubtedly a factor in Andalusia, which has become a main landing zone for migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from northern Africa. Voter resentment over the rising number of immigrants was palpable in the run-up to the elections.
“We will expel anyone who enters our house without permission,” Abascal said before cheering multitudes recently. He pledged to ban the practice of Islam and shut down mosques.
Abascal denies suggestions that his movement bears any resemblance to what Spain saw in the 20th century. “The stigma attached to the far right over memories of the Franco dictatorship,” Abascal said, “are fading.” Today, he claims, those memories are eclipsed by the seemingly endless corruption scandals plaguing the establishment at large, from the Socialists to the conservative People’s Party.
The December 2018 Andalusian election results also indicated that VOX had a wide following, cutting across income groups. While Abascal received 30 percent of the vote in the wealthy province of Almeria, he also drew 14 percent of votes in the city of La Linea, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Spain.
Feminist leader Lidia Falcon says despite the electoral upset, Abascal’s support is limited. His opposition to a law targeting violence against women recently passed unanimously by Spain’s parliament has alienated women voters, Falcon said. The number of incidents in which male spouses abused their wives rose dramatically, by almost 18 percent, in 2017, according to a study by Spain’s high court. Differences over the law against gender violence was a stumbling block in forming a governing coalition between VOX and the center-rightists in Andalusia.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
