Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN’S far right party Vox has emerged from today’s general election as the third biggest political force in the country.
Running on a campaign which promised to undo gender violence laws and ban the teaching of LGBT issues in schools, its success is another example of the rise of far right in Europe.
It’s messaging also made it clear it would crackdown harder on Catalunya’s independence movement and take a much tougher stance on immigration.
Those messages, it seems, were warmly received on the Costa del Sol.
Vox won in Estepona, a favourite destination for British retirees, collecting 26.7% of the vote.
It also won in Benahavis with 31.77% of the vote, Coin (29.4%) and Alhaurin el Grande (31.77%), all also favourites for British and foreign residents.
Vox failed to win in Marbella, however, coming second to PSOE, which won 30.18% of the vote.
In Malaga overall, PSOE reigned supreme, taking four ‘diputados’ to the central government.
Vox was the second largest force in the province, winning three seats, followed by PP with two and Unidas Podemos and Ciudadanos each with one.
With only 3% left of the votes to count, Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE has won the election with around 120 seats but will yet again fall short of the absolute majority of 176, even if it joins forces with the left.
He will either need help from separatist parties in Catalunya or he will need the PP to stand aside in a confidence vote and allow him to form a minority government, something which has never happened before.
Correction: A previous version of this article said Vox won with 67% of the vote in Coin, the correct winning figure has been changed to 29.4%
The combination of Vox and Brexit does not bode well for British expats. Or women. Or LGBT+ people. Or fair-minded folk of any stripe. There is a dark, right wing cloud that currently threatens to shade the light of freedom in Europe. No country is spared from the monster that has merely been sleeping for the past seventy-odd years.