The far-right Vox party will enter the government of a fifth Spanish region, that of Murcia, under a coalition agreement concluded with the Popular Party (PP, right), the two parties announced on Monday, September 4.
Arriving in the lead in this region of south-eastern Spain in the regional elections of May 28 but without an absolute majority, the PP had engaged in delicate negotiations in recent weeks with the ultranationalist formation to avoid a new local ballot.
The two parties eventually agreed to form a coalition government led by the region’s outgoing president, Fernando Lopez Miras (PP), while Vox will be in charge of security and public works there and will benefit from the regional vice-president.
“It’s a generous agreement for both parties”, even if Vox like the PP “had to give up some of their departure demands”, underlined Monday during a press conference Joaquin Segado, the group’s president. parliamentary PP to the regional assembly.
“Differences in approach on many topics”
This will make it possible to constitute “a strong government, a stable government”, despite “differences in approach on many subjects”, insisted for his part José Angel Antelo, the head of Vox in the region of Murcia and future vice- president of this region.
This agreement brings to five the number of Spanish regions led by a right-extreme right coalition, after Castile and Leon since last year and those of Valencia, Extremadura and Aragon, where agreements have been reached in the wake of the May 28 elections.
This election, marked by a rout of the left, convinced Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call early legislative elections for July 23, with which the left-wing parties managed a “remontada”, but which did not make it possible to achieve a clear majority.
Coming in second place with 121 seats against 137 for the People’s Party, the Socialist Party is paradoxically more likely to form a government than the PP, thanks to the support of many regionalist parties.
In addition to the five regions out of seventeen where the PP and Vox have sealed a government alliance, these two parties have reached agreements in ten major cities in Spain. These pacts have aroused numerous criticisms, particularly on the left.
