Vox's conditions for a coalition government in Andalusia are not to the liking of PP. A number of senior party officials, although not exactly anyone particularly close to party leader Pablo Casado, have sounded the alarm, expressing their opposition to demands like expelling 52,000 immigrants and revoking the law on violence against women. Among them are the president of Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the speaker of the Spanish Congress, Ana Pastor. The president of the Castile and León PP, Juan Vicente Herrera, has even called for them to let the candidacy that won the most votes, Susana Díaz's PSOE, govern.
This Tuesday, Feijóo warned that "violence against women exists and you can't forget things that exist, you fight against them". He added that "measures against [it] will only stop applying when [it] doesn't exist".
Likewise Pastor, one of the most moderate voices in the party, has said this Wednesday that "all us democrats are on the side of the women suffering to protect them". She called for women "to not be used politically", as she believes Vox are doing.
One of the most pointed voices, however, was Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, president of the Castile and León PP, who said they should let PSOE, the party which won the most votes in the election, stay in power, to avoid a "losers' pact", referring to the possible alliance of the three right-wing parties PP, Vox and Ciudadanos. He also said there "exists real violence against women".
Ya puestos, hubiera sido más directo exigir “expulsión de Andalucía a los que no sean de Vox. Pero pata negra”.
— Borja Sémper (@bsemper) 8 de gener de 2019
Y nos evitamos tanto rollo.
Another of the figures to comment was PP's spokesperson in the Basque Parliament, Borja Sémper, who warned that Vox is "breaking great constitutional consensuses". He also joked that "while they're at it, it would have been more direct to demand the expulsion from Andalusia of those who don't support Vox". Also from the Basque Country, the party's local president and former minister Alfonso Alonso suggested that Santiago Abascal's far-right party "has a screw loose".
"Red lines"
For his part, the president of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, said that he doesn't like the far-right party's proposals for them to vote in favour of investing Juanma Moreno and that he wouldn't accept them in his autonomous community. The president of the party's Valencian branch, Isabel Bonig, said that "there are a series of red lines we won't cross", like the fight against violence against women.
On the subject of returning powers to Madrid, like in the area of Education, the minister in charge of that area in Castile and León, Fernando Rey, described it as a "absurd". His counterpart in La Rioja, Alberto Galiana, also defended competency in such matters remaining in the autonomous communities. He said that "it has to be managed with moderation and with state-like vision from the autonomous communities".