What did the candidate for the elections, Santiago Abascal, do before he became a politician?
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The general elections of July 23 are getting closer, a fundamental moment that will mark the course of Spain in the next five years. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the electoral advance after the poor results of the left in the municipal and regional elections, so that the population will have to vote in the middle of summer for the first time in the history of democracy in this 2023.
A priori they are elections in which the two large blocks arrive very evenly matched. The PSOE seeks re-election with the support of Sumar, the new left-wing party created by the current Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, while on the other side Alberto Núñez Feijóo aims to lead the most voted list with the Popular Party. Despite this, everything indicates that it will need support to form a possible government, and the role of Vox will be very important there..
The far-right party has already been an important player in the formation of several governments after the regional elections, and will seek to continue gaining weight after the good results achieved in 2019, becoming the third political force in the country. Four years ago, Vox added 3,656,979 votes, 15.08% of the total, to win 52 seats in the Congress of Deputies. And in this 2023 its leader and main visible face will once again be that of Santiago Abascal.
What did Santiago Abascal do before he became a politician?
Santiago Abascal, born on April 14, 1976 in Bilbao, has been the president of Vox since its creation in December 2013.. He is the son of Santiago Abascal Escuza, a member of Alianza Popular and later of the PP of Álava, and grandson of Manuel Abascal, mayor of Amurrio for more than 15 years, the town where the leader of the conservative party grew up..
Abascal studied at the private University of Deusto, where he graduated in Sociology in 2003.. His final degree project was later published, called La farsa de la autodeterminación, with a prologue by José María Aznar.. By then he had already put his head in politics, being affiliated since 1996, at the age of 20, to the Provincial Committee of the Popular Party of Álava, entering its Executive Committee at 21.
In the same 1999 he became a PP councilor in the Llodio City Council, in Álava, being in 2007 and also becoming the leader of the NNGG of the Popular Party in the Basque Country in 2000.. With this political formation, he held a position in the Executive Commission of the Basque PP from 2000 to 2013, also being for a few months the Attorney of the General Meetings of Álava. From the beginning of 2004 to February 2005, in its first stage, and from October 2005 to January 2009, not being re-elected later, he was part of the Basque Parliament for Vitoria.
After all this, already as president of the Foundation for the Defense of the Spanish Nation and with Esperanza Aguirre as president in the capital, in 2010 he became director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid until moving to the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship. This was dissolved when he left, at the same time that the VOX party was founded, already in December 2013, presenting it a month later and since then occupying the position of president of the political group.