After its scores in local elections on Sunday, the far-right party is well placed to govern with the right in many regions and municipalities. A look back at ten years of a meteoric rise in the Spanish political landscape.
In European democracies, with a few years of difference, the scenarios seem to follow and resemble each other. Less than 50 years after the death of dictator Franco, the Vox party has just won the greatest electoral success in its young history in the local elections on Sunday May 28.
>> Spain: what to remember from the victory of the right in the local elections, which prompted Pedro Sanchez to announce early legislative elections
The municipal and regional elections have indeed seen the spectacular rise of the Spanish right and extreme right, which rob six of the nine regions it led, and the majority of the country’s large cities, from the left. This electoral snub prompted Pedro Sanchez to call an early general election to “submit our democratic mandate to the will of the people”. “I personally assume these results”assures the boss of the Socialists, whose debacle is only equaled by the breakthrough of Vox, which doubles its score compared to the previous municipal elections and imposes itself as a natural ally to the Partido Popular (PP), the big party of the Spanish right, in many regions.
From a party of disappointed to the third political force of the country
Founded in December 2013 by those disappointed by the PP, the political party of Vox therefore seems to have won since it has managed in less than a decade to establish itself as the third force in the country. This ultranationalist party created a first surprise in 2018, making a sensational entry into the regional parliament of Andalusia, where it had gathered 11% of the vote and won 12 seats.
Since then, Vox has continued its rise across the country. After entering the National Parliament in April 2019, with 24 deputies, he made his debut in the governance of institutions. For more than a year, he has governed in coalition alongside the PP in the region of Castile and León. A “pilot experience” which should be repeated in the coming weeks. Without an absolute majority in many cities and several regions, the Spanish right will be forced to form alliances with Vox if it wants to govern.
Populism, nationalism and climate skepticism
What is the backbone of Vox? This far-right party is a populist, ultra-nationalist and ultra-conservative party. Its main targets are the Basque and Catalan separatists. The unity of Spain is present in all the speeches of Vox, which is directly opposed to the Spanish decentralized system, set up in 1978, and has repeatedly called for the prohibition of independence parties. The other pillar of the party, like other European far-right parties, is immigration. Since its inception, the formation has held an extremely radical rhetoric against illegal immigration, to which it attributes an alleged increase in delinquency.
Vox is also a formation that still denies climate change. The party also calls for the repeal of many progressive laws adopted in recent years in Spain, such as the one against violence against women. Vox has also made abortion its hobbyhorse. In Castile and Leon, where he leads with the PP, the far-right party proposed at the beginning of the year that doctors make the fetus heard by women wishing to have an abortion, without this proposal being followed by his ally. The party also opposes the law of 2022, passed by the majority on the left, which opens the right to abortion for minors aged 16 and 17 without parental consent and has removed the three-day reflection period which was mandatory before an abortion.
The ultra-conservatives of Vox also actively oppose the law authorizing same-sex marriage or the so-called “transgender” law, passed in 2022, which allows you to freely change gender with the civil status from 16 years old.