Charlie Smith
SPAIN’S right-wing parties have said they will not vote for an extension of coronavirus lockdown.
An extension until May 24 has not been backed by either the conservative PP or far-right Vox party.
Spain’s state of alarm – often referred to as lockdown – is currently set to end this Sunday (May 10).
This latest vote is the fourth time the Government has sought an extension to the state of alarm, which was first announced on March 14.
It comes after PP leader Pablo Casado had already warned during the last vote that his party would not support the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
In a speech to Congress this morning Casado said: “What you cannot have is the Government making arbitrary decisions with exceptional powers.
“The PP’s loyalty is not with its Government, but with the Spanish.
“We will not vote in favour of extending the state of alarm.”
Casado confirmed that the PP would abstain from voting, rather than vote against Sanchez and his PSOE government.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal added: “They [the government] have turned the state of alarm into a state of exception.
“The only thing that has been cut are the rights and freedoms of the Spanish.
“Under this ominous government 10 times more Spaniards have died than those who were murdered in Paracuellos [A Civil War massacre northeast of Madrid].”
Currently the state of alarm is up for review every 15 days, in what Sanchez previously described as ‘being accountable to Congress’.
Despite the opposition of Casado and the PP in Congress, the party’s regional leaders had seemed open to an extension.
The PP’s regional presidents in Castilla y Leon (Alfonso Fernandez Mañueco), Murcia (Fernando Lopez Miras) and Andalucia (Juanma Moreno) suggested on Sunday that they would back an extension until the end of May.
