ARCHIVED - Far-right party Vox calling the political shots in Andalucía

The radical policies of the new far right in Spain are in the limelight following the Andalucía election in December

A month after the regional election which produced surprising results in Andalucía it is now becoming clear that the ramifications of the emergence of far-right political party Vox may be far further-reaching than was at first imagined.

At first sight, the result of the voting appeared to be that for the first time since the return of democracy to Spain after the dictatorship of General Franco the regional government in Andalucía would be taken out of the hands of the socialist PSOE party, with a probable alliance being formed between the right-wing PP, the Centrist party Ciudadanos and Vox. These three parties are in some ways natural allies, especially in the struggle to depose the PSOE in Andalucía, and having won 26, 21 and 12 seats respectively they could theoretically join forces to form a majority in the 109-seat regional parliament.

But Vox, with their radical policies, are not easy bedfellows for their potential allies, and this week they have outlined the conditions under which they would support the investiture of the PP’s Juan Manuel Moreno as regional president. These conditions are extreme almost to the point of being revolutionary, leading to the suspicion among commentators that the far-right party is interested less in enabling the formation of a new Andalucía government than in using the limelight in which they find themselves to outline policies with a view to the campaigning for the local, regional and European elections throughout Spain on 26^th May.

The 19 demands made by Vox include the following:

• The expulsion of 52,500 unauthorized immigrants who are currently at liberty in Andalucía (it is not clear how the figure was reached, but this tough stance on immigration follows a record year in terms of the number of north African migrants arriving in southern Spain across the Mediterranean).

• The elimination of the Gender Violence and LGTBi Rights legislation in the region of Andalucía (Vox considers that the current regional legislation provides “a flood of subsidies” for “feminist supremacy associations”, and that the LGTBi community are granted “unjustified privileges”).

• The introduction of laws to protect bull fighting, hunting and other traditions.

• The reversion of decision-making powers to the national government, leaving the regional government in charge of merely administering nationwide policy decisions in the fields of Education, Health, Justice and Public Order.

• Legislation to ensure that the children of Andalusian parents in other regions are not obliged to receive education in the co-official languages of those regions (such as Catalan).

• The alteration of the regional holiday on 28th January (the regional day of Andalucía) so that it falls on 2^nd January (“to commemorate the completion of the Reconquista” in 1492).

Negotiations with the PP are on-going, but it is clear that some of these conditions are unacceptable, and the consequences are two-fold:

Firstly, the formation of a new right-wing regional government is a lot less imminent than it seemed in the aftermath of the Andalucía election on 2^nd December: indeed, there is an outside chance that the PSOE could retain power in the region if Vox maintain their extremist stance and no alliance is formed.

And secondly, the radical policies of Vox are being given far more publicity and serious consideration than has ever been the case until now. The PP party are so keen to assume control in Andalucía that even after leading figures referred to the demands of Vox as “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” they are negotiating with the demands on the table.

The extreme policies of Voz have already caused strong reactions from political opponents, including incidents of vandalism and violence such as those which were reported in the Region of Murcia over the weekend of the Three Kings. However, the situation is that these same policies are now at the top of the political agenda in Spain due to the way in which the people of Andalucía voted a month ago, and they are likely to dominate the pre-campaigning all over the country prior to the local, regional and European elections in late May.

Image: Vox leader Santiago Abascal addresses a mass rally in Madrid last October

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