Simon Hunter
THE CONSERVATIVE Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox have reached a coalition deal for the northern Spanish region of Aragon, after an inconclusive result at the May 28 polls. The agreement is the latest of several between the two right-wing parties, with a national deal still on the cards after the recent general election held on July 23.
According to sources from the PP who spoke to Spanish media, PP candidate Jorge Azcon will be voted in as premier of the region, having previously served as the mayor of Zaragoza.
Vox, meanwhile, will run the Agriculture and Farming department, as well as that of Depopulation, Territorial Development and Justice. The Vox politician who heads up the latter department will also serve as vice-premier in the government.
Azcon will be taking over from the Socialist Party politician Javier Lamban, who has served two terms as regional premier in Aragon.
In an assembly where the absolute majority is 34 seats, the PP won the vote with 28 seats but fell well short of an outright victory. Vox, meanwhile, garnered seven seats, while the Socialists mustered 23.
The PP and Vox have already agreed coalition deals in the Valencia and Extremadura regions in the wake of the May 28 elections, while a confidence and supply arrangement was agreed in the Balearic Islands, where the PP is governing in a minority.
The two parties have also done hundreds of deals in local councils in the wake of the May 28 elections, something that has supporters of the left concerned given the extreme policies of Vox.
There have already been several incidents of administrations where Vox is in power either censoring movies or plays due to their content, or removing LGBTQ+ rainbow flags from public buildings.
National politics
On the national level, meanwhile, Vox fared much worse than expected at the recent general election. While the PP won the vote, it fell short of a majority even with the seats of Vox.
The polls predicted the two groups would be able to form a coalition government, but that is looking increasingly unlikely given that barely any other parties are willing to support Vox due to its policies.
The caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party, has stated that he is convinced he will be able to form a leftist coalition with new alliance Sumar and govern in a minority with smaller regional parties.
Read more:
- How the vote count from Spaniards living abroad just made Pedro Sanchez’s life a little bit more difficult
- Why the winner of Sunday’s general election in Spain has done a U-turn to court the Socialists
- Leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party rails at media and Popular Party leader for poor showing at elections
