Vox (political party)

Vox (Latin for "voice", often stylized as VOX; Spanish pronunciation: [ˈboks]) is a Spanish far-right political party.[19] Founded in 2013, the party is led by party president Santiago Abascal and secretary general Javier Ortega Smith.[24]

Vox
President	Santiago Abascal
Secretary-General	Javier Ortega Smith
Founded	17 December 2013
Split from	People's Party
Membership (2019)	53,985[1]
Ideology	Ultranationalism[2][3][4][5] National conservatism[6] Social conservatism[7][8][9] Right-wing populism[6][10] Economic liberalism[5][11][12][13] Soft Euroscepticism[8][14] Anti-Islam[15][16] Centralism[17][18]
Political position	Far-right[19]^[a]
European affiliation	European Conservatives and Reformists Party
European Parliament group	European Conservatives and Reformists[20]
Colours	Green
Congress of Deputies	52 / 350
Senate	3 / 265
European Parliament	4 / 59
Regional parliaments	58 / 1,268
Mayors in Spain	363 / 8,122
Town councillors	2,004 / 67,121
Website
www.voxespana.es
Politics of Spain Political parties Elections ^ a: Vox is considered part of the radical right, a subset of the far-right.[4][21][22][23]

The party entered the Spanish parliament for the first time in the April 2019 general election, having become the country's third political force after the November 2019 Spanish general election that same year, in which it secured 3.6 million votes and 52 seats in the Congress of Deputies.

History

Javier Ortega Smith giving a speech in 2018 in Vistalegre.

Vox was founded on 17 December 2013,[25] and publicly launched at a press conference in Madrid on 16 January 2014[26][27] as a split from the People's Party. This schism was interpreted as an offshoot of "neocon"[28] or "social conservative"[29] PP party members. The party platform sought to rewrite the constitution to abolish regional autonomy and parliaments.[27] Several of their promoters (for example: Alejo Vidal-Quadras, José Antonio Ortega Lara or Santiago Abascal) had been members of the platform "reconversion.es" that issued a manifesto in 2012 vouching for the recentralization of the State.[30] Vidal-Quadras was proclaimed as the first chairman in March 2014.[31][n. 1]

The initial funding, totalling nearly 972,000 euros, came from individual money transfers by supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).[30][33]

Vox ran for the first time in the 2014 European elections but narrowly failed to win a seat in the European Parliament.[34]

In September 2014 the party elected Santiago Abascal, one of the founders, as new President, and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, also a founder, as General Secretary. Eleven members of the National Executive Committee were also elected.

The party participated in the 2015 and the 2016 elections, but did not do well, scoring 0.23% and 0.20% of votes respectively.

After the Catalan referendum of 2017 and the start of a Spanish constitutional crisis, Vox opted to not participate in the Catalan regional elections of 2017.[35] After the Catalan declaration of independence, the party sued the Parliament of Catalonia and several independentist politicians[36] the number of its members increased by 20% in forty days.[37]

On 10 September 2018 Vox enlisted an independent legislator in the regional parliament of Extremadura (who had dropped out of the PP parliamentary group) as party member.[38] On 2 December 2018 they won 12 parliamentary seats in the Andalusian regional election,[39] [40] entering a regional parliament for the first time. It supported the coalition regional government by Ciudadanos and the Popular Party. With this result, Vox was also given a first seat in the Senate of Spain, which was taken by Francisco José Alcaraz.[41]

The party obtained 10.26% of votes in the April 2019 general election, electing 24 Deputies and entering the Congress of Deputies for the first time in its history.[42] Later, the party entered for its first time in the European Parliament with 6.2% of the votes and 3 eurodeputies, which after Brexit became 4. After this election, the party joined the European Conservatives and Reformists group and the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe.[20] In the second general election of the year in November, Vox came third and increased its number of deputies from 24 to 52.[43] It was the most-voted party in the Region of Murcia and the autonomous city of Ceuta.[44]

Ideology

Vox has been described as a far-right party within the subset of the radical-right family.[45][21] Unlike other European radical right parties, its discourse relies relatively less in populism and more on nationalism.[46] It mixes nationalism and nativism with an authoritarian vision of society,[45] opposing what the party terms as "radical left-wing feminism" favouring "traditional" gender norms instead.[47] Its economic agenda has been described as "neoliberal."[45]

Starting with a focus in economically liberal stances and recentralization proposals, the focus of their message shifted towards stances compatible with European right-wing populism,[48] endorsing anti-Islam as well as criticism of multiculturalism and criticizing immigration from Muslim countries.[49][50] Vox promotes immigration from countries of Latin America in order to repopulate Spain.[51] Their view of European Union is that of a soft euroscepticism, arguing that Spain should make no sovereignty concessions to the EU, because they consider Spanish sovereignty to reside in the Spanish nation alone.[14][52] They propose to eliminate Spain's autonomous communities.[53] In addition, they seek the return of Gibraltar to full Spanish sovereignty.[54]

Vox is considered antifeminist,[55] and wants to repeal the gender violence law,[56] which they see as "discriminant against one of the sexes" and replace it with a "family violence law that will afford the same protection to the elderly, men, women and children who suffer from abuse".[57]

The party pleads for the closure of fundamentalist mosques as well as the arrest and expulsion of extremist imams.[57] Vox has openly called for the deportation of tens of thousands of Muslims from Spain.[58] In 2019, the party's leader demanded a Reconquista or reconquest of Spain,[59] explicitly referencing a new expulsion of Muslim immigrants from the country.[60]

According to Xavier Casals, the warlike ultranationalism in Vox, unifying part of its ideology up to this point, is identified by the party with a palingenetic and biological vision of the country, the so-called "España Viva", but also with a Catholic-inspired culture.[3] The party discourse has also revived the myth of the Antiespaña ("Anti-Spain"), an umbrella term created in the 1930s by the domestic ultranationalist forces to designate the (inner) "Enemies of Spain".[5][61]

According to Guillermo Fernández Vázquez, Vox's discourse, which he described as "economically anti-statist and neoliberal" as well as "morally authoritarian", is similar to Jörg Haider's FPÖ or Jean Marie Le Pen's National Front from the 1980s, thus likening the emergence of the party to an archaic stage of current radical right parties, more worried about the need to modernize their image than Vox; the later's approach to cultural issues would be in line with old school Spanish nationalist parties, restricting the scope of "culture" to "language and tradition".[62][63]

While Vox openly endorses the State of Israel, the party has appealed to conspiracy theories invoking the figure of Jewish philanthropist George Soros as mastermind behind Catalan separatism and the alleged "Islamization" of Europe.[64] Vox has also featured some former neo-Nazis in party cadres and lists;[65][66] some of them have been expelled from the party or have resigned.[67][68] In November 2018, during a party event in Murcia, the party leader Santiago Abascal defined his party as "antifascist, antinazi and anticommunist".[69]

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

Cortes Generales
Election	Congress					Senate		Leading candidate	Status in legislature
	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Seats	+/–
2015	58,114	0.23%	15th	0 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Santiago Abascal	No seats
2016	47,182	0.20%	13th	0 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Santiago Abascal	No seats
2019 (Apr)	2,688,092	10.26%	5th	24 / 350	24	0 / 208	0	Santiago Abascal	New election
2019 (Nov)	3,656,979	15.08%	3rd	52 / 350	28	2 / 208	2	Santiago Abascal	Opposition

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Leading candidate
2014	246,833	1.57%	11th	0 / 54	0	Alejo Vidal-Quadras
2019	1,393,684	6.21%	5th	4 / 59	4	Jorge Buxadé

Regional parliaments

Region	Election	Votes	%	#	Seats	Status in legislature
Andalusia	2018	396,607	10.96%	5th	12 / 109	Confidence and supply
Aragon	2019	40,671	6.08%	6th	3 / 67	Opposition
Asturias	2019	34,210	6.43%	7th	2 / 45	Opposition
Balearic Islands	2019	34,871	8.12%	6th	3 / 59	Opposition
Basque Country	2020	17,569	1.94%	6th	1 / 75	Opposition
Canary Islands	2019	22,021	2.47%	7th	0 / 70	No seats
Cantabria	2019	16,496	5.06%	5th	2 / 35	Opposition
Castile and León	2019	75,731	5.50%	4th	1 / 81	Opposition
Castilla–La Mancha	2019	75,813	7.02%	4th	0 / 33	No seats
Extremadura	2019	28,992	4.71%	5th	0 / 65	No seats
Galicia	2020	26,485	2.03%	5th	0 / 75	No seats
La Rioja	2019	6,314	3.87%	6th	0 / 33	No seats
Madrid	2019	287,667	8.88%	5th	12 / 132	Confidence and supply
Murcia	2019	61,998	9.47%	4th	4 / 45	Confidence and supply
Navarre	2019	4,546	1.31%	7th	0 / 50	No seats
Valencian Community	2019	281,608	10.59%	5th	10 / 99	Opposition

Criticism

In December 2019 the Government of Gibraltar took steps to take Vox to court over remarks they made which it alleged intended to cause incitement of hatred towards Gibraltarians.[70]

In January 2019, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported 80% of Vox's 2014 election campaign funding had come from individuals linked to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),[71] located in United States, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Italy.[72]

Notes

1. Vidal Quadras later left the party after the political failure at the European election and his unability to impose his stances in the party. He would argue in 2018 that the party shifted from a "liberal conservative, europeanist, and reformist" proposal (represented by himself), to a "Nationalist, revisionist, euroesceptic and confessional" one.[32]

References

Citations

1. "Vox hace caja: casi cuadruplica en un año sus afiliados... que pagan 9 euros al mes". LaInformacion.com (in Spanish). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
2. Fredrik Engelstad; Trygve Gulbrandsen (7 October 2019). Elites and People: Challenges to Democracy. Comparative Social Research. p. 199. ISBN 978-1838679156.
3. Casals, Xavier (19 January 2019). "Vox habla sobre Vox. Tres libros para conocer el partido". Agenda Pública. Su ideario parece hallarse aún en construcción y tiene como eje vertebrador un ultranacionalismo bélico asociado a la “Reconquista” o a una “Covadonga 2.0”, El partido lo identifica con una visión biológica y palingenética de la patria, la “España viva”, pero también con una cultura de inspiración católica.
4. Acha, Beatriz (6 January 2019). "No, no es un partido (neo)fascista". Agenda Pública.
5. Antón-Mellón, Joan (29 April 2019). "Vox. Del nacional-catolicismo al ultranacionalismo neoliberal". Agenda Pública. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
6. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Spain". Parties and Elections in Europe.
7. "Spanish election: victory for Socialists as VOX surge fragments right-wing vote". Yahoo News. 29 April 2019.
8. "Factbox: The rise of Spain's far-right - Vox becomes third-biggest party". Reuters. 10 November 2019.
9. "Far-right claims first victories in Spain since Franco era". Axios. 5 December 2018.
10. Turnbull-Dugarte, Rama & Santana 2020.
11. Álvarez Barba, Yago. "Si a HSBC y Goldman Sachs les gusta Vox, a ti no te debería gustar". elsaltodiario.com. Diría eso de que “con esto a Vox se le ha caído la careta”, pero es que no creo que Vox se haya puesto nunca caretas que oculten su vertiente neoliberal y de servidumbre a las élites financieras.
12. "En España el partido más liberal en materia económica es VOX". panampost.com (in Spanish).
13. "Vox es más ultraderecha clásica que populismo contemporáneo". letraslibres.com (in Spanish). su nacionalismo se conjuga con [...] un discurso económico liberal
14. Macías, C. S. (2019-03-01). "El discurso de Vox en Europa". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-11-11.
15. Field, Bonnie; Rodríguez-Teruel, Juan (26 April 2019). "Can Spain's elections on Sunday deliver a functioning government?". Monkey Cage.
16. García Rey, Marcos (18 March 2017). "Los musulmanes de España entre dos fuegos: el yihadismo y la extrema derecha xenófoba". El Confidencial.
17. "El programa de Vox para "reconquistar" España". RTVE. 3 December 2018.
18. Remírez de Ganuza, Carmen (17 January 2014). "Nace Vox pidiendo la eliminación de los parlamentos regionales". El Mundo.
19. • Mudde, Cas (2019). The Far Right Today. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 40, 41, 174. ISBN 978-1-5095-3685-6.
    • Ferreira 2019, p. 73
    • Mudde, Cas (12 November 2019). "Nativism is driving the far-right surge in Europe – and it is here to stay". The Guardian.
    • Gould, Robert (2019). "Vox España and Alternative für Deutschland: Propagating the Crisis of National Identity". Geneaology. 3 (4): 64. doi:10.3390/genealogy3040064.
    • Ribera Payá, Pablo; Díaz Martínez, José Ignacio (16 July 2020). "The end of the Spanish exception: the far right in the Spanish Parliament". European Politics and Society. doi:10.1080/23745118.2020.1793513.
20. Press, Europa (June 13, 2019). "Vox compartirá grupo en la Eurocámara con el partido que apoyó a Puigdemont". elperiodico.
21. Turnbull-Dugarte 2019.
22. Ferreira 2019.
23. Mendes, Mariana S.; Dennison, James (19 June 2020). "Explaining the emergence of the radical right in Spain and Portugal: salience, stigma and supply". West European Politics: 1–24. doi:10.1080/01402382.2020.1777504.
24. "VOX elige por tercera vez a Santiago Abascal como su presidente". Europa Press. 10 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
25. "Política de privacidad de VOX España". voxespana.es/aviso-legal (in Spanish). Aviso Legal. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014.
26. Quintero, L.F.; Alonsof, Mariano (14 January 2014). "Nace Vox, el partido político de Santiago Abascal y Ortega Lara". Libertad Digital. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
27. O'Leary, Elisabeth (16 January 2014). "Spanish ruling party rebels launch new conservative party". Reuters. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
28. Fernández, Guillermo (10 October 2018). "Vox abre la puerta". ctxt.es. Vistalegre dibuja a Vox como la expresión de que una parte de la derecha “neocon” española se ha desgajado de la nave nodriza del Partido Popular
29. Hennig, Anja; Meyer-Resende, Madalena (2016). Bedingungen der Aktivierung von moralpolitischen Konflikten. In: Ines-Jacqueline Werkner y Oliver Hidalgo (Eds.). Springer. pp. 304–305. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-11793-1. ISBN 978-3-658-11792-4.
30. Casals, Xavier (1 April 2019). "Catalunya i 'la España viva' de Vox". Política&Prosa (5).
31. "Vox elige a Vidal-Quadras como su primer presidente". Crónica Global. 8 March 2014.
32. "Las caras y los apoyos de Vox". El Periódico. 1 November 2018.
33. Jannessari, Sohail; Loucaides, Darren (27 April 2019). "Spain's Vox Party Hates Muslims—Except the Ones Who Fund It". Foreign Policy.
34. "Tristeza y decepción en Vox tras los resultados de las Elecciones Europeas". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 26 May 2014.
35. Paradinas, Marcos (3 November 2017). "VOX: "El 21D es fruto de un pacto oculto entre Rajoy y los golpistas"". elplural.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
36. García, Jesús (11 October 2017). "El TSJ catalán admite la querella de Vox por rebelión contra Puigdemont". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2018.
37. "La afiliación al partido ultraderechista VOX aumenta un 20% en 40 días". Público (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
38. "Los ex 'populares' Juan Antonio Morales y Antonio Pozo se incorporan a Vox". Región Digital (in Spanish). 10 September 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
39. Turnbull-Dugarte 2019, pp. 1–2.
40. "Spain far-right Vox party gains foothold in Andalusia election". BBC News. 3 December 2018.
41. "¿Quién es Francisco José Alcaraz, el primer senador de Vox?". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). 19 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
42. Vox enters Congress for the first time but falls short of expectations in elpais.com
43. Jones, Sam (11 November 2019). "Spain election: grand coalition ruled out as far-right Vox surges". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
44. "Vox gana las elecciones en Murcia y Ceuta". El Plural (in Spanish). 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
45. Ferreira 2019, p. 73.
46. Ferreira 2019, p. 73 & 90 "a diferencia de muchos de sus homólogos en Europa, el populismo está muy poco presente en su discurso;" (...) "Su retórica es mucho más nacionalista que populista"
47. Turnbull-Dugarte, Rama & Santana 2020, p. 3"advocates for the protection of traditional gender norms whilst protesting against what it pens as radical left-wing feminism "
48. Casals, Xavier (21 April 2015). "Vox y su campaña contra la inmigración masiva". ElManifiesto.com.
49. Balcarce, Luis (17 April 2019). "PERIODISTA DIGITAL ENTREVISTA AL CAMERUNÉS DEL PARTIDO DE SANTIAGO ABASCAL". periodistadigital.com. Bertrand Ndongo (Vox): "España no debería permitir la invasión de los musulmanes"
50. Sosa, Carlos (17 April 2018). "Abascal (Vox): "No es lo mismo un inmigrante hispanoamericano que la inmigración de los países islámicos"". eldiario.es. Santiago Abascal alertó a los presentes acerca de “ese 4% de musulmanes que hay en España y que, para algunos, puede resultar una minoría simpática”. Su advertencia fue muy concreta: “No queremos que se conviertan en un problema”.
51. Zamora, La Opinión de. "Vox apela a "la inmigración buena" para atajar la despoblación en Zamora". www.laopiniondezamora.es.
52. Abascal, Santiago (8 November 2015). "Cádiz, Covadonga y Bruselas". Libertad Digital (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2018. Porque estamos convencidos de que nación y soberanía son conceptos íntimamente relacionados. Si somos soberanos es porque somos una Nación y no tenemos derecho a entregar lo que hemos recibido de nuestros mayores. España debe estar en Europa pero sin complejos, reivindicando el papel histórico, industrial y agrícola que merecemos. No debemos ser vasallos de Merkel ni de Tsipras. Ni camareros de Merkel ni paganos de las propinas de Tsipras. Las Cortes de Cádiz proclamaron que la Nación española era libre e independiente y que no podía ser patrimonio de ninguna familia o persona. Proclamaron asimismo que la soberanía reside esencialmente en la Nación, que es la única que tiene derecho a establecer sus leyes fundamentales. Esta declaración de soberanía ha sido una constante en toda nuestra historia constitucional.
53. Cañizares, María Jesús (17 December 2018). "Vox: ¿fenómeno mediático o real?". Crónica Global.
54. Spain's Vox party wins seats as far-right party surges for first time since Franco, CNN, December 3, 2018
55. Jones, Sam (9 December 2018). "Far right victories in Andalucía send shockwave through Spanish politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
56. Álvarez, Pilar; Valdés, Isabel (3 December 2018). "Derogar la ley de violencia de género y otros planes de Vox contra el feminismo". El Pais. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
57. Arroyo, Jorge Rodriguez (3 December 2018). "Far-right Spanish political party Vox: What are its policies?". El Pais.
58. "As Spain elects its first far-right MPs since Franco, the party's leader invokes the Inquisition years". The Jewish Chronicle. 2 May 2019.
59. "Spain's far-right makes election gains using anti-Muslim sentiment". The National (Abu Dhabi). 29 April 2019.
60. Bryan, Kenza (9 December 2018). "Spain's far right eyes role as kingmaker in April elections". The Times.
61. Segovia Vara, Marina; Fernández Pasalodos, Arnau (18 April 2019). "Ha vuelto la Antiespaña. Vox y su violencia discursiva". El Salto.
62. Lenore, Víctor (24 April 2019). "Morante, Calamaro y Abascal: ¿son los toros el nuevo rock and roll?". Voz Pópuli.
63. Fernández Vázquez, Guillermo (24 April 2019). "Vox, la extrema derecha de siempre". CTXT. A tenor de lo que muestra el programa, cultura es para Vox lengua y tradición, siguiendo el viejo lema de los partidos nacionalistas.
64. Baer, Alejandro (2 May 2019). "The Rise of Spain's Pro-Israel, Far-Right Party". Tablet Mag.
65. Maestre, Antonio (2 May 2015), "Un histórico ultra condenado a prisión por el asalto a Blanquerna, en Vox", La Sexta
66. "El pasado nazi de un candidato de Vox en Alcalá de Henares". ABC. 7 May 2015.
67. Pérez, Sergio (13 April 2019). "El número 7 de Vox en Alcalá renuncia por su nexo con una organización nazi". La Vox de Asturias. Según informa Vox Alcalá de Henares en un comunicado, Bonito ya ha presentado ante la Junta Electoral de Zona un «escrito de renuncia a formar parte de dicha candidatura y a su acta de concejal electo» en el caso de que la obtuviera.
68. Redacción, Redacción (13 April 2019). "Vox expulsa al abogado José María Ruiz Puerta por haber presidido la asociación CEDADE". Alerta Nacional. Tanto a Ortega Smith como a Rocío Monasterio les ha faltado tiempo para desvincularse de Ruiz Puerta. Sostienen que nunca ha militado ni pertenecido a Vox, lo que desdice lo que él mismo ha publicado en redes sociales y también lo que manifestó en “Alt News”. En el espacio radial dirigido y conducido por Santiago Fontenla sostuvo que él tenía “acceso directo” a Abascal y daba por consumada su incorporación a ese proyecto político.
69. Gómez, David (15 November 2018). "Abascal: "Para callarnos nos tendrán que meter en la cárcel"". La Verdad. Santiago Abascal [...]definió a su formación como «antifascista, antinazi»
70. "Gibraltar takes far-right party VOX to court in Spain for 'inciting hatred' towards the Rock". Retrieved 5 January 2020.
71. "Spain's far-right makes election gains using anti-Muslim sentiment". The National (Abu Dhabi). 2019-04-19.
72. Laurie Garrett. "Spain's Vox Party Hates Muslims—Except the Ones Who Fund It". Foreign Policy.

Bibliography

• Ferreira, Carles (2019). "Vox como representante de la derecha radical en España: un estudio sobre su ideología" [Vox as Representative of the Radical Right in Spain: A study of its Ideology]. Revista Española de Ciencia Política (in Spanish) (51): 73–98. doi:10.21308/recp.51.03. ISSN 2173-9870.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart J. (2019). "Explaining the end of Spanish exceptionalism and electoral support for Vox". Research & Politics. SAGE. 6 (2). doi:10.1177/2053168019851680.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart; Rama, José; Santana, Andrés (2020). "The Baskerville's dog suddenly started barking: voting for VOX in the 2019 Spanish general elections". Political Research Exchange. 2 (1). doi:10.1080/2474736X.2020.1781543.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Official site