The nightmare that began on the night of the general election at Vox’s national headquarters does not seem to be over. After the electoral disaster, the impossible sum of an absolute majority of the right and the inability to condition a new Spanish government, the ultra party has seen this week how its ideological bunker cracked and internal disputes came to light that divide the training.
The extreme right is experiencing its worst crisis in years, despite the fact that its leaders blame the media for orchestrating a “campaign of manipulation to bury a political formation that has come to shake the Spanish political landscape”, as he told the microphones of Rádio Nacional de España on Friday its secretary general, Ignacio Garriga. A complicated situation that coincides with the beginning of the legislature in which the parliamentary group – now out of control – begins an uncertain journey with a possible course towards irrelevance.
Sources of the formation admit that the exit shot, which will be given next Thursday with the constitution of the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies, looks “complicated”. The ultras will fight for a place in this body, where they already had a seat in the previous legislature, but they see it as “almost impossible” to seize the majority on the left; a possibility in which, on the other hand, the Popular Party does believe in it. And this scenario, which they see as unlikely, is precisely what they consider to be “their lifeboat” in Congress.
That is to say, aware of the bath in reality that has meant going from 52 to 33 seats this new period, Vox’s hope is to forge a common right-wing front in the chamber with which those of Santiago Abascal and Alberto Núñez Feijóo normalize their relationships, according to the same sources. And that first photograph of the rightists – who have recently disowned each other – can be seen in the panel of the vote on the constitution of the Bureau; either a win or a loss.
In the management of Vox, according to close sources, they believe that neither the popular candidate nor the socialist will be invested as president of the Government; that the electoral replay is the card in the deck with the most options. For this reason, they believe that these weeks are crucial for the desired rapprochement with the Popular Party.
If his forecasts are fulfilled, the will is “not to repeat the mistakes of the last campaign in which the Popular Party demonized Vox; only together will we manage to reach Moncloa”. If his predictions fail, and the legislature goes ahead, the premise is the same: to consolidate the right-wing front.
A strategy always has risks, as admitted by a Vox deputy who repeats this legislature. The main thing: the hug of the bone that the popular can give them. The extreme right will now not be able to use alone the letters that gave it notoriety during the last legislature. Since they have not managed to exceed 50 deputies, they will not be able to fill the Constitutional Court again with appeals against the reforms proposed by the next government. The eccentricities have also ended, such as the motion of censure of Ramón Tamames, who at the age of 89 took to the podium to defend some positions contrary to Vox. For appeals of unconstitutionality and motions of censure, they will have to join – as a minority partner – the Popular Party, which would, in any case, be the one who should lead them.
There is another stone in this path. And it’s not small. Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, who resigned on Tuesday to collect his deputy record, leaves the position of parliamentary speaker vacant. And in the dwindling group there are no leftover parliamentarians with experience. Despite the fact that numerous media places Ignacio Hoces, one of the gurus who whisper in the ultra leader’s ears, as the new spokesman for Congress, sources in the management deny that he should be the replacement. Despite this, Hoces, from the string of Jorge Buxadé – leader who won the fight against Espinosa de los Monteros -, will be one of the heavyweights of Vox in Congress. No one questions it.
In the party’s last press calls, a woman has been with the spokespersons; without losing detail of his words. It is María Ruiz, who was presented as number two for Madrid after Santiago Abascal. Ruiz, as management sources explain, is one of the best positioned to replace Espinosa de los Monteros. In the crossing there are also Pepa Millán and Rocío de Mer, due to Vox’s interest in strengthening female profiles, since there are not many of them in their lists.
