Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, the group that has sponsored the motion of no confidence presented by the veteran Ramón Tamames, has assured this morning in Congress that he does not hate “free women” because his is “the one that rules at home “.
The surprising statement came in the final stretch of the debate in Congress. Abascal asked for the floor to respond, by allusions, to the PSOE deputy Patxi López, who had accused the president of Vox of “hating” women.
“I have to clear up that accusation,” he began. “You still have the opportunity to retract, because I must inform you that all the women I know, those who surround me and who I need and want in my life, like my 94-year-old grandmother to my daughters, who are free when they are minors, passing for my mother and wife, who is the one in charge at home…”, continued Santiago Abascal.
The murmurs in the room did not wait. Several deputies were astonished by the words of the far-right leader. Even Abascal himself stopped for a second, aware that his last sentence gave rise to controversy.
“Mr. Patxi López, I would ask you to retract. Because I want and need the women who surround us in our lives. Free women, all of them, although less and less free since the leader of the pack (pointing to Pedro Sánchez) has rewarded 800 rapists”, he concluded.
Socialist Patxi López did not like the reference to sexual offenders benefiting from reduced sentences in application of the Law on Sexual Freedom, who replied that the president of Vox “must love free women very much but he has voted against each and every one of the advances that has allowed the freedom of women”.
