Vox confirms it will vote against the investiture of María Guardiola

MadridVox has ruled out supporting María Guardiola in the first investiture vote in Extremadura. This was confirmed by the regional leader of the far-right party, Óscar Fernández, during his address to the plenary session. Santiago Abascal's party continues to demand "certainty and guarantees" that the People's Party will honor any agreements reached. "Much remains to be clarified," he warned. This comes after Guardiola's remarks yesterday. He will implore Vox for their support —“We are not incompatible, there is no wall between us,” she said during her speech—Óscar Fernández asked her for “less talk and more guarantees.” “She kicked the can down the road, focusing on the form without getting to the heart of the matter,” he reproached her. The Vox deputy made it clear that his duty was to “prevent” her 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 hasn't been reached today, it's fundamentally because someone in Génova still doesn't want it.” “We continue to believe that if you want it and they let you, it's possible,” he concluded.

Óscar Fernández began his speech by asking María Guardiola “why” she was asking for 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 the "broken promises" made in 2023: "We will demand the guarantees of compliance that we didn't have then. Once, yes, but not twice." Vox has reiterated that it wants to reach an agreement "measure by measure" in negotiations that "aren't broadcast live" and has stated that it first wants to reach an understanding on the government program and then decide if that leads to a coalition.

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

Vox's demands

Óscar Fernández used his speech to reiterate all the demands Vox has put forward, although these are not new. On 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" for housing, social assistance, and employment programs: "Spaniards first; we will not allow foreigners to come first." He also wants to declare the Cross of the Fallen in Cáceres, a Francoist monument, a site of cultural interest. He further 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 that are "of a radical environmentalist ideology." And she wants to end the registry of conscientious objectors for healthcare workers who refuse to perform 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.