Andalucia – Far-Right wins seats in Spanish regional elections for first time

A far-right party has won seats in a Spanish regional election for the first time since the country’s military dictatorship ended in 1975. The Vox party took 12 parliamentary seats in Andalusia on Sunday, beating expectations that it would win five.

The BBC, reports that tough on immigration and Catalan separatism, Vox could be a kingmaker in a future coalition in Andalusia. The governing Socialist Party still won more than any other party – 33 seats – but with a greatly reduced majority.

In November the BBC wrote “when Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s Vox party, was asked to explain its recent success, he said it was because it was “in step with what millions of Spaniards think”. Vox has been derided as far-right and populist, anti-immigration and anti-Islam.

But the 42-year-old Basque says instead it “defends the constitutional order, constitutional reform in some areas, the unity of Spain and centralisation of the state, and wants immigration to be brought under control”. For a long time after its foundation in 2014, Vox struggled to make an impact on the Spanish political landscape.”

VOX  may try to form a coalition with the left-wing Podemos, to fend off the centre- and far-right in the 109-seat parliament.