An agreement between conservatives and the far right to form a government in the Spanish region of Extremadura was announced on Friday, becoming the third such agreement and the second since the May 28 local elections. The Popular Party (PP) and Vox issued a joint statement informing the public about the agreement to establish the new government of Extremadura.
Maria Guardiola, of the conservative PP, will be the president of the regional government, while the ultra-nationalist Vox party will occupy a regional ministry, specifically that of Forestry Management and Rural World.
This is the third case in Spain in which the extreme right is part of a coalition government, after Castilla y León since last year and Valencia, one of the richest regions in the country, where the agreement was reached in mid-June after the municipal and regional elections of May 28, in which the socialists and the left experienced a historic setback.
As the July 23 early legislative elections approach, polls indicate that the PP has a comfortable lead over the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, but without an absolute majority in Parliament, which would mean negotiating with Vox to secure such a majority.
In addition to the three regions in which the PP and Vox established a government alliance, both parties also closed a pact in the Balearic Islands, under which Vox will abstain to facilitate the investiture of the PP candidate, Marga Prohens, as leader of the regional government.Thus, the PP will govern alone but will have the support of Vox in the regional parliament.
Although the exact content of the government agreement between the PP and Vox in Extremadura has not yet been revealed, it is expected to be signed at noon. The coalition agreement reached in the Valencian Community was widely criticized for aligning the PP with several of Vox’s positions, including the abandonment of the concept of “gender violence” to replace it with “intra-family violence.”
In comparison, the agreement reached in Extremadura gives less power to Vox than in Valencia, where the extreme right obtained the vice presidency of the regional government and two regional councils. Initially, the PP candidate for the regional presidency of Extremadura, MarÃa Guardiola, ruled out an agreement with Vox because the party “denies male violence.”
However, she resumed negotiations with Vox after the national leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, declared that her initial reaction had been “inadequate.”