Abascal keeps his hard core in Congress and leaves Monasterio in the air
Vox has presented this Friday a first preview of its lists for the Congress of Deputies, in which there are no big surprises. In the candidacy for Madrid, headed by Santiago Abascal, the leader of the formation has changed number two. If in 2019 it was Javier Ortega-Smith, now he places María de la Cabeza Ruiz Solás as his right hand, who was already a deputy in the previous legislature and is a councilor in Villaviciosa de Odón. Smith, for his part, repeats in Congress and will go as number four after falling into irrelevance in the Madrid City Council, where José Luis Martínez-Almeida achieved an absolute majority on 28-M.
The first names that have emerged show that the City Hall of the capital, one of the most coveted places until the municipal elections, has passed into the background. In addition to Ortega-Smith, Carla Toscano also has a place on the list in starting positions, which warns that the opposition to the PP will be less intense than in the last legislature, although Ortega Smith assured after his appointment as a candidate for the mayor's office that was going to be focused solely on Madrid. Both, however, can reconcile the positions of deputy and councilor if they so wish.
Abascal has chosen to keep his hard core in the Lower House, and has not made major changes. In third place on the list in Madrid repeats Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, economic spokesman for the formation in Congress and one of the great weights of the party. As number five has entered María José Rodríguez de Millán, whom everyone knows as Pepa, who has served in the last year as spokesperson for the formation in the Senate. Among the novelties, Montserrat Lluis, former deputy director of ABC and adviser to the Government of Castilla y León after the entry of Vox, stands out, while Juan Luis-Steegmann repeats as number six.
Also Jorge Martín Frías, very close to Abascal and director of the Disenso Foundation, the think tank of the ultra-conservative party and connection with its international allies, especially in Latin America.. The deputy Mireia Borrás or Gema Herrero fall from the top positions, and we will have to wait to find out the fit they will finally have on the lists. Vox has only made public 24 of the 50 constituencies, which will finish being made public next Monday.
The party leadership has only released some names from the list for the Congress of Deputies, with the rest of the names and the Senate unknown. Among these doubts, the name of Rocío Monasterio stands out, whose future is up in the air after the elections on May 28. The leader of the formation in Madrid has been blurred in the Community of Madrid after the absolute majority of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, without any capacity for influence or weight in the regional government.
The Vox leader has included like-minded and friends on the lists, such as David García, head of the list for Alicante and a member of Solidaridad, the union attached to Vox; the general secretary of the same organization, Rodrigo Alonso, who is competing as number two for Almería's candidacy; or Ignacio Hoces, who was part of the organic framework of the formation as deputy secretary of Institutional and link between Congress and the national leadership of Vox, and who now competes as number one for Badajoz. Hoces replaces Víctor Sánchez del Real in this constituency, who this Friday announced that he would not repeat on the Vox list for Congress.
I translate to human: I will not go on lists for the next legislature.
If you have fun projects or missions that require you to gamble for a noble cause, here I am.
It has been an honor to take the stage in Congress to say what you would have liked to say. https://t.co/FcLZyS1ORZ pic.twitter.com/zx39hVTzOL– Víctor SánchezdelReal (@sanchezdelreal) June 16, 2023
In Malaga, Murcia or Las Palmas, Patricia Rueda, Lourdes Méndez Monasterio —sister of Santiago Abascal's adviser, Kiko Méndez Monasterio— also repeat as head of the list.. A curious case is that of Granada, whose list is led by the former spokesperson for the formation in the Senate, Jacobo González-Robatto, since he left to coordinate the failed electoral campaign of Macarena Olona in Andalusia, and now replaces it with the constituency that she occupied. Abascal has opted for his faithful, and they will continue Rocío de Meer (Almería); José María Figaredo (Asturias); Manuel Mariscal (Toledo); Reyes Romero (Seville); Víctor González (Salamanca) or Magdalena Nevado (Cáceres).
In Valencia, Vox confirms its former candidate for the Generalitat, Carlos Flores Juberías, as number one for this province. Setting him apart as potential vice president of Carlos Mazón was the gesture of the Vox leadership that facilitated the achievement of the first major regional coalition agreement after Castilla y León. The vice presidency will correspond to another Vox leader, the bullfighter Vicente Barrera, while Juberías replaces Ignacio Gil Lázaro as head of the list for this province, which in turn is number two in the candidacy.