Faced with few losses in his ranks and unfavorable polls, Vox leader Santiago Abascal has made a move forward. Abascal took advantage this Saturday of his proclamation as president of the Ultra formation until 2028 to issue an order: he announced that he would ask the PP and the Mixed Group to give him the signature of two deputies so that he could, in addition to his 33 seats He completes the 10% of Congress members needed to force a referendum on constitutional reform. Vox, which initially abstained and ultimately voted against amending Article 49 of the Basic Law to change the word “disabled” to “people with disabilities,” now claims that the reform discriminates against men, adding that ” special attention is paid to people with disabilities”. specific needs of women and minors with disabilities.
The initiative has no sign of success with all other factions supporting the change, but Vox is aiming to regain prominence as it tries to distinguish itself against the PP. For the first time, the Ultra formation has distanced itself from the demonstration called for this Sunday by the Popular Party against the coalition government and Abascal today brought to light the adjective “cowardly right-winger” that he had not used for years to disqualify Alberto's Núñez party Feijoo.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei supported Abascal with recorded messages at the event, which saw him return to Vox's helm for another four years. The leader of the Fratelli d'Italia called on him to prepare for the “very important event” of the European elections on June 9, “to finally give the European Union the change of course that we have been waiting for a long time”. For his part, the new Argentine president, who defines himself as a “libertarian liberal,” has called on his “dearest friend” Abascal “not to lower his arms and to continue fighting, because we are few but good, fighting for life. “Freedom and Property.”
The Vox general meeting itself lasted barely half an hour. It was not a Bulgarian-style congress with more votes than voters, as former party leader Macarena Olona had predicted, as there was not even a vote. The head of the internal electoral committee, Gema Herrero, has assured that the list headed by Abascal was the only one that received the approval of more than 10% of members – although she did not disclose how many approvals it received – and , said the re-election candidate, had decided to declare his victory without subjecting it to a vote by members, as he explained. It is the same as what Abascal did at the previous congress in 2020.
The party leader later assured: “I stood for re-election because Vox members, sympathizers and voters asked me to.” “No media asked me about it.”
Since there were no ballot boxes, the applause meter was the thermometer to measure grassroots support for the various Vox leaders. When the names of the new members of the National Executive Committee (CEN) were read out, they stood up to greet the public and it turned out that after Abascal himself, the one who was the first to applaud the most was former Secretary General Javier Ortega Smith demoted to vice president and remained as a simple member of the management team.
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At the rally following the general assembly, both held in the meeting hall of a 2,000-seat hotel in Madrid, Abascal described the existence of divisions or currents within his formation and attributed this to the “deafening noise” caused by “fake news”. his party. There were repeated attacks on the press at the event, where access to several media channels was blocked. among them EL PAÍS.
Abascal has boasted that his party already governs over 14 million Spaniards and has shown strength by leading the four vice-presidents of the autonomous governments in coalition with the PP, which he has included in the new leadership. They all thanked Abascal for his appointment and some, like Castilian Juan García-Gallardo, showed Vox's most xenophobic side by attributing crime to immigration and calling for defense against “the Islamization of Spain and all of Europe.” or claiming an “immigration blockade.”
Although he welcomed his party's candidate for the Xunta in the February 18 elections, Álvaro Díaz-Mella, from the lectern, Abascal missed the opportunity to make him known by handing him the microphone at an event on the eight speakers took part. Paradoxically, the calling of this congress, which was theoretically brought forward so that the party could concentrate on the upcoming electoral processes, will not prevent it from having to hold another congress in the coming months, as the party's annual accounts were not properly approved as required. .
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