Vox defeats María Guardiola's first investiture and starts the countdown to a repeat election

MadridAs expected, Vox has derailed María Guardiola's first attempt at becoming president of the Extremadura regional government. More than two months after the elections, the People's Party (PP) and the far-right party have been unable to reach an agreement and remain deadlocked. During his speech in the plenary session, the regional leader of the far-right party, Óscar Fernández, reiterated his demand for "certainty and guarantees" that the PP will honor the agreements. "Much remains to be clarified," he warned. After Guardiola He will implore Vox for their support “We are not incompatible, there is no wall between us,” she said yesterday during her speech. Fernández has asked her for “less talk and more guarantees.” “She kicked the can down the road, focusing on the formalities without addressing the heart of the matter,” he reproached her. The Vox deputy made it clear that his duty was to “prevent” the Popular Party candidate from “deceiving and breaking her word,” and launched a poisoned dart at the PP's national leadership: “Her enemies are within her own ranks. If an agreement wasn't reached today, it's fundamentally because someone in Genoa still doesn't want it.” After the debacle, which resulted in 29 votes in favor and 36 against, there will be a second vote on Friday afternoon, and if the investiture fails then, the PP and Vox will have until May 4 to reach an agreement. If they fail to do so, Extremadura will hold repeat elections on June 28.

"We are very close to reaching an agreement; it's not about anyone giving up who we are," María Guardiola urged to close the plenary session. In her opening remarks, she had again appealed to Vox's "responsibility": "The people of Extremadura don't deserve for us to enter into a vicious cycle of constant confrontation," she exclaimed. She called for an agreement, for which she sees no "impediment," that is "fair to the results." Previously, the PP's parliamentary spokesperson, José Ángel Sánchez Juliá, invited Vox to "know how to manage the result" and "accept their role," downplaying the guarantees of compliance demanded by the far right by referring to the mechanism of a motion of no confidence. From Madrid, sources within the PP's national leadership complain that Vox's "electoral motivation" on the eve of the elections in Castile and León "condemns the people of Extremadura to a state of limbo" and blame the far right for the lack of agreement: "The left does not deserve the satisfaction of seeing the center-right and the right unable to form a government."

Óscar Fernández began his speech by asking María Guardiola "why" she was seeking Vox's support: "If it's to do exactly the same thing as in recent years, our answer is a resounding no," he emphasized. The far right is still smarting from what they call "broken promises" made in 2023: "We will demand the guarantees of compliance that we didn't have then. Once, yes, but not twice." Vox reiterated that it wants to reach agreements "measure by measure" in negotiations that "aren't broadcast live" and stated that it first wants to reach an understanding on the government program and then decide if that leads to a coalition. However, the People's Party (PP) believes they are not far from meeting Vox's demands. "We agree with 98% of what they've said," acknowledged José Ángel Sánchez Juliá. "You know perfectly well that many of the issues have already been agreed upon," added María Guardiola.

The far-right party's determination—as made clear on election night itself—is to vote either for—if there is an agreement—or against the candidate, ruling out abstention. This clashes with the narrative repeatedly used by the People's Party (PP) since election day. For over two months, the PP's headquarters in Genoa has been boasting that the success of the snap election lies in the fact that the PP is less dependent on Vox because they only need one abstention. But this is a scenario that the far-right party makes clear it does not consider acceptable: "There are no half measures, no gray areas, it's black or white."

Vox's demands

What does Vox demand? Óscar Fernández used his speech to reiterate all the demands Vox has put forward, although these are not new. Regarding immigration, he calls for age verification for unaccompanied foreign minors, the elimination of spending "related to illegal immigration," and the establishment of a "national priority" in housing, social assistance, and employment programs: "Spaniards first; we will not allow foreigners to come first." Furthermore, he wants to declare the Cross of the Fallen in Cáceres, a Francoist monument, a site of cultural interest. Vox also demands the repeal of all "laws of ideological indoctrination and those contrary to freedom" and the elimination of subsidies to unions, employers' associations, and NGOs that "promote illegal immigration" or are "of radical environmentalist ideology." Furthermore, she wants to end the registry of conscientious objectors for healthcare workers who oppose performing abortions – “no more blacklists,” she has proclaimed – reduce the number of representatives in the Extremadura Assembly, and lead a “total and frontal opposition” to Mercosur.