Santiago Abascal

Santiago Abascal Conde (Spanish pronunciation: [sanˈtjaɣo aβasˈkal ˈkonde]; born 14 April 1976) is a Spanish politician who has been the leader of Vox party since September 2014 and a member of the Congress of Deputies in representation of Madrid since 2019. Before the creation of Vox, Abascal, a former long-standing member of the People's Party, served as legislator in the Basque Parliament, founded the Foundation for the Defence of the Spanish Nation and exerted the role of director of publicly funded entities of the Community of Madrid.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Abascal and the second or maternal family name is Conde.
Santiago Abascal

MP
President of Vox
Assumed office
20 September 2014
Preceded byJosé Luis González Quirós
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Assumed office
21 May 2019
ConstituencyMadrid
Director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid
In office
4 February 2010 – 28 December 2012
PresidentEsperanza Aguirre
Preceded byAntonio Troncoso
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the Basque Parliament
In office
4 October 2005 – 6 January 2009
ConstituencyÁlava
In office
16 January 2004 – 22 February 2005
ConstituencyÁlava
Member of the General Assembly of Álava
In office
13 June 2003 – 3 February 2005
ConstituencyVitoria
Member of the City Council of Llodio
In office
13 June 1999 – 16 June 2007
Personal details
Born
Santiago Abascal Conde

(1976-04-14) 14 April 1976
Bilbao (Biscay), Basque Country, Kingdom of Spain
Political partyPeople's Party (1994–2013)
Vox (2014–present)
Spouse(s)
Lidia Bedman
(
m. 2018)
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Deusto

Early life

Abascal was born in Bilbao. Both Abascal's father (member of People's Party) and grandfather (mayor during Franco's dictatorship)[1] were local politicians in the province of Álava[2][3].) Due to their political activity, his family was threatened by the far-left terrorist group ETA.[4]

Political career
Abascal giving a speech in 2018 in Vistalegre.

He became a member of the People's Party at age 18, in 1994.[5][6] Abascal was city councillor of Llodio for two terms (1999–2007).[7] He served in the Basque Parliament from January 2004 to February 2005 representing Álava.[8] He later served again in the regional legislature from October 2005 to January 2009.[9]

Following his exit from Basque politics, Esperanza Aguirre, the regional president of the Community of Madrid, found him a niche in the region, hand picking him to the post of director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid (2010–2012); Abascal was later appointed to another post as Director of the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship (2013),[5] a publicly funded entity without known activity during Abascal's spell.[10][11]

Abascal left the PP in 2013[6] and helped to found a new party, Vox, formed on the same day the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship dissolved.[10] After Vox's bad result in the May 2014 European Parliament election (in which it failed to obtain any seats), inner strife between a faction represented by party members such as Ignacio Camuñas, José Luis González Quirós and Alejo Vidal-Quadras and a hardline faction (featuring Abascal along with other figures of the DENAES Foundation) followed. The moderate faction became estranged from the party,[12] and Abascal became the new president on 20 September 2014.[13]

Personal life

He first married Ana Belén Sánchez, herself a PP candidate in local elections in Llodio and Zuia, with whom he had 2 children.[14] In June 2018 he married the Spanish blogger and influencer Lidia Bedman.[15], with whom he had two children.[16][14] Abascal is a long-time member of the Spanish Ornithological Society.[17] Abascal is an affiliate of the conservative association Hazteoir (HO), and was the recipient of a HO Award in 2012.

Abascal was one of several Spanish politicians to test positive for the COVID-19 virus during the 2020 pandemic.[18]

References
  1. "Abascal, el 'ex' del PP que lleva la extrema derecha a la política nacional". Eitb (in Spanish). 3 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. "Muere Santiago Abascal, exdirigente del PP vasco y padre del líder de VOX". Efe.com (in Spanish). Vitoria. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  3. Los Genoveses (27 April 2019). "Santiago Abascal: un ultra con sueldo y pistola". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  4. Álvaro Carvajal, «Retrato de familia bajo amenaza de ETA en 20 'tuits'», El Mundo, 13 de agosto de 2012.
  5. Gutiérrez, Óscar. "¿Quién es Santiago Abascal, líder del partido Vox?". 20minutos.
  6. Amón, Rubén (3 December 2018). "Santiago Abascal, el fan de Marine Le Pen". El País.
  7. "Santiago Abascal: del PP vasco a sacudir la política española en Andalucía". La Vanguardia. 3 December 2018.
  8. García Martín, Javier (28 April 2019). "La post-España de Santiago Abascal". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  9. "Santiago Abascal Conde" (PDF). Voxespana.es (in Spanish). 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  10. Pérez Mendoza, Sofía (13 January 2019). "La fundación que dirigió Abascal se extinguió sin dejar rastro de su último año de actividad". eldiario.es.
  11. Guzmán, Cecilia (6 November 2013). "Santiago Abascal se 'forra' al amparo del PP madrileño". El Plural.
  12. Sangiao, Sergio (23 January 2019). "Los tránsfugas de Abascal". CTXT.
  13. "Santiago Abascal, nuevo presidente de Vox con el 91% de los votos". Publico.es. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  14. "Así es la primera mujer de Santiago Abascal: la expolítica con la que compartió partido y desahucio". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  15. Villar, C. (9 October 2018). "La boda cool de Santiago Abascal (VOX) con la bloguera Lidia Bedman este verano". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Titania Compañía Editorial, S.L. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  16. "Así es Lidia Bedman, la pareja 'egoblogger' de Santiago Abascal, líder de VOX". La Vanguardia. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  17. "Abascal: un aficionado a los pájaros casado con una 'influencer'". Cadena COPE (in Spanish). Radio Popular S.A. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  18. "Santiago Abascal, líder de Vox, da positivo en coronavirus". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 12 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
Government offices
Preceded by
Antonio Troncoso		 Director of the Data Protection Agency
of the Community of Madrid
2010–2012		 Office abolished
Party political offices
Preceded by
José Luis González Quirós		 President of Vox
2014–present		 Incumbent
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