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Who shot the founder of Spain’s far-right Vox party?

Spaniards were shocked by the news on Thursday that Alejo Vidal-Quadras had been shot in the face at point-blank range. The 78-year-old politician, currently in a serious but stable condition, has his suspicions over who's responsible. 

Published: 10 November 2023 11:22 CET
Who shot the founder of Spain's far-right Vox party?
Vidal-Quadras has long been an outspoken opponent of the Iranian regime and is convinced his assassination attempt was carried out by a hitman operating under their orders.(Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

At 1.30pm on Thursday November 9th, the ex-head of Spain’s Popular Party in Catalonia and one of the founders of the far-right party Vox was shot in the jaw in Madrid’s upmarket Salamanca neighbourhood by a man whose face was concealed by a helmet and who quickly escaped on a motorbike after the near-fatal shooting. 

READ MORE: Founder of Spain’s far-right Vox shot in the face in Madrid

The attempted murder came just hours after Spain’s Socialists reached a controversial deal with Catalan separatist party Junts per Catalunya over their political amnesty, an agreement which has led to days of right-wing protests across numerous Spanish cities. 

Despite his injury (a double jaw fracture), Vidal-Quadras remained conscious when he was rushed to hospital and was able to inform Spanish police who he believed was behind his shooting. 

Contrary to the initial belief that the assailant’s motives were linked to heightened national political tensions, Vidal-Quadras has pointed to the Iranian regime being the potential culprit. 

“I don’t have any other enemies,” he is quoted in the Spanish press as having told police. 

Vidal-Quadras, who remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital, has long been an outspoken opponent of the Iranian government and is convinced his assassination attempt was carried out by a hitman operating under their orders.

This tallies with the version given by the National Council of the Resistance of Iran (NCRI), with links for many years to Vidal-Quadras and financiers of 80 percent of the first Vox campaign in the 2014 European parliamentary elections.

“For the Iranian resistance it is clear, the main suspect is the religious fascism that’s in power in Iran, which Doctor Vidal-Quadras has dedicated an important part of his life to fighting against,” NCRI head Maryam Rajavi is quoted as saying in Spanish daily El Mundo.

For its part, the Iranian Embassy in Madrid sent out a message on the same day in which at no point it referred to Vidal-Quadras’ attempted assassination or ensuing accusation, instead accusing the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MKO) of being a “sect” that’s killed “17,000 innocent victims in acts of terrorism”.

The MKO are an Iranian dissident organisation which is now headquartered in Albania and which has been described as being rooted in Islam with revolutionary Marxism, a claim others deny, calling it instead the first democratic Muslim organisation in contemporary Iran.

Vidal-Quadras features on Iran’s watchlist, among other reasons for his public defence of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which Tehran considers to be the political arm for the MKO.

Spanish police are now investigating whether the right-wing politicians’ claims could be true. 

Vidal-Quadras, who founded Vox in 2013 alongside other politicians and was the head of the centre-right Popular Party in Catalonia from 1991 to 1996, now runs a law firm in the Catalan capital and has numerous dissidents of the Iranian regime as his clients.

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POLITICS

What will Spain’s PM do next after resignation threat?

Sánchez's shock threat of resignation after a dubious corruption probe into his wife has kicked off a period of political uncertainty. What card will the Spanish PM play next according to the experts, or is he truly planning to step down?

Published: 26 April 2024 09:59 CEST
What will Spain's PM do next after resignation threat?

Pedro Sánchez, in office since 2018, wrote in a four-page letter posted on social media on Wednesday that he would suspend public duties while he “reflects” on whether he wants to continue leading the government.

The Socialist leader denounced “the seriousness of the attacks” against him and his wife, saying it was part of a campaign of “harassment” waged by the right and far right who “do not accept the election results”.

READ ALSO: Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Sánchez, an expert in political survival who has made a career out of taking political gambles, said he would announce his decision on Monday.

Some analysts said he could decide to stay on, with this move aimed at rallying support and regaining the initiative in the face of the right-wing opposition at a time of extreme polarisation in Spanish politics.

“Sánchez is a political animal,” said Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, adding “he has decided to go on the attack” to try to “change the rules of the debate”.

Paloma Román, a political scientist at Madrid’s Complutense University, said Sánchez had “slammed his fist on the table” as part of a “strategy aimed at putting the spotlight where he wants it”.

Sánchez could file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers in parliament.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, whose JxCat party is an unpredictable ally of the government, has urged Sánchez to pick this option.

READ ALSO: What happens and who takes over if Spain’s Prime Minister resigns?

For the confidence motion to succeed, Sánchez would just need the backing of a simple majority in the assembly and most of the parties which prop up his minority government have already shown their unconditional support.

Catalan separatist party ERC said it would vote in favour of a confidence motion while hard-left party Podemos, which has clashed with Sánchez in the past, blasted attacks by “the political, media and judicial right” on the prime minister and the left in general.

While the conservative opposition has accused Sánchez of playing the victim to rally support, analysts said the possibility that he will resign cannot be completely ruled out.

“Sánchez’s closest advisers and the leadership of the Socialist party will probably spend the coming days trying to convince him to stay,” said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.

“The fact that the prime minister allegedly did not consult any of his advisers when drafting the letter suggests personal reasons might be his main motivation. This makes Sánchez’s decision particularly hard to predict.”

If Sánchez does step down, the Socialist party could propose that parliament appoint someone else as head of the government, with Budget Minister María Jesús Montero, who also serves as deputy prime minister, touted as a likely contender.

But Barroso said it “would probably be hard for Montero to cobble together a majority” in Spain’s highly fractured parliament.

Sánchez could instead resign and call snap elections but he would not be able to do so before May 29 since a year must pass between consecutive dissolutions of parliament.

With the Socialists trailing the main opposition conservative Popular Party in opinion polls, this is a risky strategy, although analysts said Sánchez may bet that leftist voters will be galvanised by the controversy sparked by his resignation.

READ ALSO: Spanish prosecutors question credibility of corruption probe against PM’s wife

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