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Spain’s far-right Vox party poised to enter Castilla y León government

Spain's far-right party Vox is poised to enter a regional government for the first time after big election gains over the weekend, suggesting a blueprint for future power sharing nationally.

Published: 14 February 2022 17:55 CET
vox juan garcia gallardo
Leader of far-right Vox party in Castilla y León, Juan García Gallardo gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Valladolid on February 14, 2022, a day after the results of the regional election. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

Vox came third in Sunday’s snap polls in the central Castilla y León region, winning 13 seats in the 81-seat assembly, up from just one.

It is now demanding it form part of a coalition government with the conservative Popular Party (PP) which came first with 31 seats — two more than in 2019 but well short of an absolute majority.

“Vox has the right and the duty to form a government in Castilla y León,” Vox leader Santiago Abascal said late on Sunday.

The party also wanted the vice-presidency of the regional government, he added.

The voters “have spoken” and “we will demand nothing more nor less than what is due to us,” Abascal said.

The formation of a PP-Vox government could be a foretaste of a right-wing alliance that might govern Spain after the next general election due before the end of 2023.

Most recent polls put the PP first, ahead of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s ruling Socialists, but short of a majority — and that would mean they might have to form an uncomfortable alliance with Vox to govern.

The Socialist party came second in Castilla y Leon with 30 percent of the vote, giving it 28 seats.

Spain’s highly decentralised system gives its 17 regions broad powers, which means the entry of Vox into a regional government would have a major impact on policy.

Castilla y León could serve as a “lab” for Vox, said Paloma Roman, a politics professor at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The party called for the repeal of a law designed to protect victims of domestic violence and opposes both gay marriage and Gay Pride marches.

Founded in 2014, Vox started as a marginal force in Spanish politics before causing a major upset in late 2018 when it entered regional parliament for the first time, winning seats in the assembly of the southern Andalusia region.

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VOX leader Santiago Abascal (L) and Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki talk to the press following the far-right and nationalistic “Defend Europe” summit organised by VOX in Madrid in late January. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Following national elections nearly a year later, it became the third-largest force in Spanish politics with 52 seats in the 350-seat parliament, mirroring gains elsewhere in Europe for the far right.

The regional governments of both Andalusia and the Madrid area are PP-led but supported from the outside by Vox in exchange for political concessions.

The election was called by Castilla y León’s current PP leader Alfonso Fernández Mañueco after he broke with Ciudadanos, his centre-right coalition partner which lost almost all its seats.

The demise of Ciudadanos is leaving the PP with virtually no other potential partner other than Vox.

“The PP won the elections… but it is in the hands of Vox,” said Cristina Monge, a political scientist at the University of Zaragoza.

Pablo Simón, a politics professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, agrees. The PP, he said, “has no other choice than to make way for its main rival further on the right which is Vox”.

But this coalition could become a problem “if the PP wants to form alliances with moderate partners” in other regions or at the national level, he added.

Fernández Mañueco has left the door open to forming a coalition government with Vox, saying there was no “red line” between the right and far right. But some top PP figures have expressed doubts.

“Coalition governments do not provide stability,” PP secretary general Teadoro Garcia Egea, the party’s number two, said Monday.

At Complutense University, Roman argued that a PP-Vox government in Castilla y Leon could turn voters off Vox once they got a closer look at their policies.

This could lead voters to impose a “sanitary cordon” around the party, she added.

READ MORE: Why elections in little-known Castilla y León really matter for Spain’s future

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POLITICS

Why separatist Bildu spells hope for Basque youth as Spanish region votes

"For us Basques, ETA's terrorism is in the past," says social worker Elena García, who says she's going to vote for the left-wing separatist EH Bildu in Sunday's election in Spain's Basque Country.

Published: 18 April 2024 09:21 CEST
Why separatist Bildu spells hope for Basque youth as Spanish region votes

As the wealthy northern region of 2.2 million residents heads into a tightly-contested vote for its regional parliament, polls suggest Bildu will win, inching ahead of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) that has ruled for decades.

A faction which partly emerged from the political wing of the now-defunct Basque armed separatist group ETA, Bildu “used to be associated with a nationalist party with a terrorist past but it’s moved away from that,” said Garcáa.

“Now it’s the party doing the most for social issues and defending Basque interests.”

Although she’s 40, her words reflect a stance common among young Basque voters for whom decades of dark separatist violence has little bearing on their electoral choices.

A coalition of several parties, most of which opposed violence, Bildu has worked to disassociate itself from ETA whose bloody struggle for an independent Basque homeland claimed 850 lives before it rejected violence in 2011.

And with a focus on housing, the environment and others issues, it has won a strong following among younger voters between 18 and 44, surveys show.

Although former ETA member Arnaldo Otegi, 65, remains its leader and most public face, Bildu recently named 40-year-old Pello Otxandiano as candidate for regional leader.

Over the years, observers say it has successfully highlighted problems facing Basque society that have increasingly taken centre stage as the political focus has shifted away from the violence of the ETA years.

“Before, the only party looking after Basque interests was the PNV, so everyone voted for them regardless of their political leanings,” said García.

“But with Bildu gaining strength, if you’re left-wing and more socially minded, you’ll vote for them.”

A man and a child look at an electoral poster of pro-independence political coalition “EH Bildu” campaign meeting in the Spanish Basque city of Sestao on April 10, 2024 ahead of April 21 regional elections. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

‘Left-wing separatist alternative’

Experts say Bildu has steadily gained political traction through a strategy that has steered clear of terror-related issues while refocusing squarely on social change.

“Bildu has become increasingly popular with young people, benefitting from the end of the armed struggle,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University.

“That has allowed it to position itself as the pro-independence, left-wing alternative to the traditional PNV government with a substantial part of its agenda linked to social policies, wealth redistribution, environmentalism and the like.”

The aim was to “move away from terrorism-related issues to talk about other problems linked to the left and the right.”

Eva Silván, who heads public policy consultancy Silvan&Miracle, said it had also scaled back its separatist agenda.

“It started talking about issues that were more material than identity based, and reducing the pro-independence agenda to focus on concrete social and public policies,” she told AFP.

And that has played well with a new generation of voters “who hadn’t experienced terrorism and didn’t link the separatist left with violence”.

For them, she said, Bildu “really taps into the concerns of young people and best addresses their problems”.

By 2019, Bildu was well on its way to becoming just another political actor with its five lawmakers in Spain’s national parliament recently becoming a key ally for the minority government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

For Basque youth, Bildu – a coalition grouping several peaceful separatist parties with former members of ETA’s political wing – spells hope in Spain election, AFP reports on April 18, 2024. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

Focus on youth, poor

In a square in Bilbao, four friends in their 20s reel off a list of struggles they’re facing, from impossibly high rents to worsening job conditions and the rising cost of living.

One won’t vote because she doesn’t believe in the political system, two can’t vote because they’re undocumented immigrants and the fourth says there’s “no point”, drawing protest from her friends who say Bildu is the only option.

“It’s essential to vote because even if Bildu doesn’t win, they’ll have greater representation in the Basque parliament,” explained Moroccan Usama Abdeloihidin, 26, who works in the hotel sector.

“They’re more focused on the working class and the situation of young people. The PNV might look out for Basque interests but not if you’re from a poor or minority neighbourhood,” he said.

At a Bildu rally in nearby town of Sestao, a crowd of supporters are cheering, clapping and waving red, white and green Basque flags as three students watch from the sidelines.

“Many young people are forced to balance studies and work and this capitalist exploitation is raising political awareness, so many Basques are turning to the left, to Bildu,” said Oier Gómez Parada, a 19-year-old Basque philology student.

“Bildu is focusing on people and raising awareness about the difficult conditions we’re facing that other parties just don’t care about.”

In nearby Agurain, 23-year-old student activist Oier Inurrieta Garamendia told AFP he felt represented because Bildu “lets young people speak, and doesn’t just speak in our name”.

“Whatever happens on April 21st, we’ll have a result we can really celebrate,” he said while admitting that even if Bildu did win 30 of the Basque parliament’s 75 seats, up from 21, it stood no chance of ruling.

“When the other parties refuse to work with EH Bildu, they’re not just blocking the party, they’re blocking the needs and desires of a large part of Basque society.”

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