Vox has announced that it has removed Ana Vega as trustee of the parliamentary group in Les Corts Valencianes and has put José María Llanos in her place. This decision, according to a statement, “is part of the normal development of the Parliamentary Group in which it is now chosen to give the spokesperson to a representative of Valencia with the aim of distributing functions between the representatives of the different provinces.”
A decision that, as they have recognized in the training, was made unilaterally by the party’s National Committee yesterday afternoon. In fact, Vega boasted on social media on Monday of being the only female trustee this term, which shows how unexpected the decision was.
Ana Vega, deputy for Alicante, served as trustee during the last term and continued to do so at the start of the current one. With Vox’s decision, no parliamentary group in Les Corts will have a woman as trustee, when in the last legislature all the groups – PSPV, PP, Compromís, Vox and Unides Podem – were represented by a woman.
The statement adds that “Vox has considered that Llanos, who has been representing this political group in the regional chamber since 2019, is the right person to continue the work done by Vega”
José María Llanos represents the hardest wing of Vox. He was the one who during the electoral campaign denied gender violence when asked by a TVE journalist, “it does not exist,” he said, and he is the one who recently stated that Valencian “is not spoken by anyone.”
Vega will remain as deputy spokesperson and president of the parliamentary group, the latter honorary position that Llanos held until now. The one who leaves the deputy spokesperson is Joaquín Alés who had only been in this responsibility for a few months as Vega’s lieutenant.
The only argument that crept into the corridors of Les Corts this Tuesday to justify the decision was the intention to “give the province of Valencia the importance it deserves.” Thus, Ana Vega herself has pointed out that, yes, she has been convinced of the capabilities and skills of her replacement: “he is pure Vox,” she has emphasized on two occasions. Vega has been very excited after these four and a half years at the head of the parliamentary group.
For his part, Llanos has avoided giving reasons beyond the fact that at Vox “no one has a permanent position.” In this sense, he has indicated that to delve into the reasons it would be better to ask the national president of the party, Santiago Abascal, or the general secretary, Ignacio Garriga.
