Santiago Abascal will remain president of Vox until 2028 without a vote from his own party's base. The members of the Ultra formation have received a message from the Electoral Committee (CEL) of Vox, in charge of organizing the internal elections, informing them that the candidacy for the National Executive Committee (CEN) led by Abascal the only one is one who has received the approval of 10% of the members of the formation and is therefore the only one who decides to lead the party in the extraordinary meeting called for next Sunday.
Still, nothing would stop Abascal from putting his list to the vote to find out what support he has among the bases. However, the CEL statement adds that, as provided for in the party's Internal Electoral Regulations (RIPE), after consultation with Abascal, it decided to appoint him directly as president without putting him to the vote. Article 10 of this regulation states: “If a single candidacy is proclaimed, the CEL has the discretion to vote on it after hearing the candidacy or to directly announce that candidacy as elected.” Sources critical of Vox explain that Abascal is with this decision wants to prevent internal unrest from emerging in the form of negative votes or abstentions in the election of the only candidate.
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It is not the first time that Abascal has avoided bowing to the decision of his party's base. In 2020, when the current Vox leadership was elected, it also opted for a direct proclamation. The last time he put his position to a vote was in 2018 in the Assembly, where it was decided to extend the mandate of the National Committee from two to four years. If he does not resign before 2028, Abascal will be leader of the Ultra party for eight years without anyone having elected him. He became party leader in September 2014 and is about to complete a ten-year term.
The entire internal election process is shrouded in opacity. The CEL communication does not specify how many referrals the list headed by Abascal received. It merely states that “10% of the required guarantees have been exceeded”; although in reality this means that the required 10% of guarantees have been exceeded. According to the call for the internal elections, the required approvals were 3,269, although the party said it had more than 66,000 members at the end of 2022, so 10% would be 6,600. Nor was it ever reported in the 2020 assembly how many supporters Abascal had received: the internal electoral committee at the time, linked to the official candidacy, only reported that he had enough supporters, while the alternative list, led by a Canarian activist , none had exceeded the bar; without ever revealing how many everyone got. The CEL was the only one who knew about the results, as then as now the approval process is telematic and carried out via the party's website.
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Unlike four years ago, no alternative candidacy was presented this time. Among other things, because the National Assembly scheduled for March was unexpectedly brought forward from January 8 to 27 of this month, giving it an exceptional character and shortening the convocation period from 30 to just 15 days, making it difficult to form another as the official list and especially the collection of recommendations for it. Former general secretary Javier Ortega Smith, who was speculated to compete with Abascal, was finally added to the official list. Critical members are of the opinion that calling this meeting not only violates the party's statutes, but also every principle of democratic functioning.
The internal electoral process only helped remove two women from Abascal's list: Rosa Cuervas-Mons, communications director for the Vox presidency; and Montserrat Lluis, Deputy Minister for Governmental Actions. According to CEL's assessment, they did not meet the requirement to be “full-fledged” subsidiaries; This means that you have been a member of the party for more than nine months and are up to date with paying your membership fees. With these losses, the new National Executive Committee (CEN) will consist of 18 people, of which only a third, six, are women.
In these circumstances, Vox has turned its National Assembly into a political rally and called for a public event for next Sunday at 12 p.m., the day on which members should vote for the new leadership, under the motto: “Come to the right.” – Election of Abascal.” In reality, there will be no such re-election, since the electoral committee will limit itself to appointing Abascal as president of Vox for another four years without a vote.
The advance of the Vox Assembly will allow Abascal to protect himself in office before the results of the elections in Galicia on February 18, in which all polls predict a terrible outcome. This Sunday in Pontevedra he presented his party's candidate for president, which his party has not yet been able to win.
Abascal has accused the leader of the PP, Albero Núñez Feijóo, of blackmailing him for asking Vox not to take part in the elections in Galicia, arguing that they would not get any seats and would only serve to attract the right-wing vote to divide (“It can't be a greater insult,” he complained) and has accused the People's Party of supporting the constitutional reform to abolish the term “disabled” and claimed that “if PP and Vox vote no in every vote of this legislative period “Whoever would vote against this government will ultimately perish at the hands of the traitors who gave him investiture.”
At the same event, Abascal boasted that no member of his party showed up to challenge him for the presidency of next Sunday's assembly and asked “Where is the media candidate,” alluding to the news about the ongoing unrest in education at. At the end he said goodbye with a “Long live freedom, darling!”, paraphrasing the new Argentine president, the anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei.
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