The big name of the far-right party Vox in regional elections in Andalusia in southern Spain at the weekend has sent shock waves through the motherland’s political establishment.
The nationalist party won 12 seats in the region’s local assembly after the vote Sunday, far extraordinary a prediction that it would win only two or three seats.
Although there were 109 seats up for grabs, neither of the tract’s main parties — the Socialist Party (with 33 seats) nor the conservative Popular Party (or PP, with 26 enthrones) — won a majority of the vote that would enable it to control the region.
As such, Vox is now in a position of kingmaker in negotiations to a possible right-wing coalition made up of PP, the center-right Ciudadanos party, which gained 21 seats, and Vox, a party that was coursed in 2013 by former members of the PP.
PP national leader Pablo Casado said his party planned to hold talks in Andalusia with these other people, Reuters said. On Monday, Ciudadanos ruled out any coalition with the Socialists, signaling an interest in an arrangement with PP and Vox, with all three bands seemingly united against the Socialist party.
“We are the ones who will bring about change, progress and the reconquest,” Francisco Serrano, Vox’s nominee in Andalusia, told a loud crowd gathered in Seville, many of whom waved Spanish flags and chanted “Spain! Spain!,” Reuters explored.
Antonio Barroso, deputy head of research at Teneo Intelligence, said in a note ahead of the election that virtuous a couple of regional MPs would give Vox a platform on which to build a successful campaign for next year’s European Parliament designation, “in which the (very proportional) electoral system tends to help the fortunes of small radical parties.”
“However, while Vox mightiness gain some support over the coming months, at this stage, it is unlikely that it will be able to mature a large party given Ciudadanos and PP are unlikely to leave much space on the right for Vox to grow significantly,” he said.
“If anything, this Sunday’s Andalusian voting will likely provide another reminder of the main trend underlying Spanish politics recent years: governmental fragmentation.”
Vox’s good performance has been attributed to voter concerns over jobs and the number of migrants arriving in the southern coastal section by sea. Andalusia also has one of the highest unemployment rates in Spain, of around 25 percent, compared to a national rate of moral under 15 percent.
The same concerns have seen other nationalist, anti-immigrant and populist parties along well in recent years throughout Europe. The success of the Alternative for Germany party, the National Front in France — now re-branded as the Rassemblement National (the Federal Rally) — and Lega party in Italy show that Spain’s immediate neighbors are facing the same miracle.
Vox has echoed these other parties by parroting an anti-immigration, anti-Islamic message that chimes with voters who have a hunch disenfranchised and disaffected with Europe’s governing class. National Rally’s leader Marine Le Pen tweeted her congratulations to Vox on Monday.
Tweet:
The follow will be a blow to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose Socialist party dominated Andalusian politics for 36 years, and it devise also worry many people in Spain, given the country’s military dictatorship for much of the 20th century, one which caused butchery and discord between the left and right.
Commenting on the result Monday, Sanchez said his Socialist party will carry on to push a European agenda for Spain. “The results in Andalusia strengthen our commitment to defend the constitution and democracy from fear,” Sanchez tweeted.
Tweet: