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Spain's Far Right party Vox have named their candidates for next month's nationwide elections. Jorge Arturo Cutillas, the head candidate in La Rioja, was one of eight people arrested in Madrid, 1982, for the stoning of buses carrying Basque school kids. https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/20/actualidad/1553109622_475842.html?id_externo_rsoc=TW_CC
This comes days after Vox leader Santiago Abascal told http://armas.es (a Spanish website specialising in weapons): “We need an urgent and radical change in the (gun possession) law, so that ordinary people do not fear prison sentences."
Santiago Abascal on animal rights activists: "They demonise the rural world and seek to put man and beast on an equal footing." The party itself describes hunting animals as an "economic necessity."
Vox's leading candidate in Albacate is Fernando Paz, who has said about the Holocaust: "What really happened is far from having been established with precision," and “the identification of Jews with Communists was a simplification, but there was a significant truth in it.”
Fernando Paz has also called homosexuality an 'abomination' + called on 'sufferers' to get 'psychological help'. In Murcia, the lead Vox candidate is Lourdes Méndez (formerly of the PP), who said: "We are against gender-based ideology and support families of natural marriage.”
Important to remember when discussing Vox and their 'success' in Andalusia was that voters came primarily from middle-class, comfortable backgrounds. The party promotes mass deregulation and tax reductions. They may pose as anti-establishment, but they are anything but.
Vox's Nazi-lite content gains media traction and publicity, in the safe knowledge they will never be elected into a position of being obliged to implement them. They promote fear and loathing whilst wishing to cement social class divisions. They are not a grassroots movement.
This is borne out in that a significant number of their candidates are formerly of the PP (the Spanish political equivalent of the British Conservatives). Their core social policies are ultra-Catholic and economically they want mass deregulation. This is widely misrepresented.
"Check out my new toys. With what I have, I could start the second Civil War!" Leaked Whatsapp conversation of Vox's Deputy coordinator in Toledo. He holds no gun license. When 'apologising', he said: "From now, I'm going to try to be politically correct." https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/21/actualidad/1553172742_073771.html?id_externo_rsoc=FB_CM_ESP&id_externo_rsoc=TW_CM_ESP&hootPostID=b350ad57c439d39e308670c3864d0913
Vox are also ignoring the Spanish law of revealing who decides their electoral committee. Law is in place to "guarantee transparency, objectivity." Vox explanation: "an external group of lawyers whose identity is not considered appropriate to disclose." https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/17/actualidad/1552843977_684802.html?rel=str_articulo#1553347984418
Latest polls show left-leaning parties set to retain power in next month's Spain election, but PSOE must rely on support of Podemos and Catalan separatist parties. PP and Podemos set for big losses from 2016. https://sevilla.abc.es/espana/abci-sanchez-solo-podria-gobernar-si-pacta-podemos-y-separatistas-201903242304_noticia.html
Another Vox candidate, this time in Barcelona, filmed shouting 'Viva Franco' in sinister fascist gathering. https://twitter.com/CervantesFAQs/status/1118837741561765889
The Vox candidate for Badajoz mayor, Alejandro Vélez Ferreira, ran for the neo-Nazi party Democracia Nacional in 2007 and 2011. In 2007, he won 22 of the 3,006 votes cast. Has referred to migrant areas in Spain as 'being too like Bucharest'. https://www.eldiario.es/politica/Vox-Ayuntamiento-Badajoz-Democracia-Nacional_0_891711052.html
Nice info graphic from @bertous showing how Spain is on course for a left-wing coalition (Coalición de izquierda) ahead of Sunday's national election
And a party breakdown of expected polling:
PSOE, 28,29%
PP, 19,86%
Ciudadanos, 15,21%
Unidas Podemos, 13.96%
Vox, 12.80%
PSOE, 28,29%
PP, 19,86%
Ciudadanos, 15,21%
Unidas Podemos, 13.96%
Vox, 12.80%
All predictions pointing to collapse in PP vote being mirrored in similar numbers to voter percentage switching to Vox. Entirely predictable.
Ultra-conservative, supporting mass deregulation and whipping up fears on migrants. These ideas aren't fresh, they're only emboldened.
Ultra-conservative, supporting mass deregulation and whipping up fears on migrants. These ideas aren't fresh, they're only emboldened.
Also important to recognise the Catalan independence crisis in all of this. Fear-mongering on both sides polarises opinion, emboldens nationalism and shifts conversation to extremes. Potential of independence would have massive consequences for Spanish economic outlook.
Something not being discussed much in analysis of Spanish election. The 'moderate' (by self-description only) Ciudadanos were polling at 22.4% a year ago. Share of the actual vote fell to 15.86%, after taking power with PP and Vox in Andalusia. https://twitter.com/Pepelias17_/status/1122782147054641152
