Andalusian shift begins
Ciudadanos and Partido Popular control autonomous parliament, propped up by votes from the xenophobic, anti-feminist, extreme-right party, Vox
The Ciudadanos party yesterday made a deal with the Partido Popular (PP) and the extreme-right Vox party, to take the presidency of the Andalusian Parliament, and take control of the Speaker’s Committee. This ends 36 years of socialist rule in the Southern autonomous community. Marta Bosquet beat Inmaculada Nieto of Adelante Andalucía (the IU-Podemos coalition), to become President of the Parliament. The Podemos coalition was left without a seat in the committee, and Vox got their first, in the form of lawyer Manual Gavira.
Bosquet will now lead talks with the various parliamentary groups and put forward Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the PP candidate, as the new president of the Junta (the Andalusian government), replacing Susana Díaz, early next year.
The inauguration of the new Andalusian right-wing coalition government could take place on January 16th. On the negotiations to form this government, Vox yesterday expressed its willingness to participate. The talks with PP and Cs “begin today,” said Secretary General of the extreme-right party, Javier Ortega Smith, who pledged to negotiate issues “point by point” with the coalition parties. “We don’t feel responsible or obligated by previous agreements to follow through with an accord with these two political parties; the negotiations will be clear, transparent and loyal to Spain, and also difficult because we will press them on many issues.” The Socialists (PSOE), called it “pact of shame”. Minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, said the PP and Ciudadanos will go down in history for having “opened the door to the extreme right”.