The leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Viejo, on Friday attacked the head of the Vox party, Santiago Abascal, whom he accuses of “falling out” with the electoral candidates during the electoral campaign in Extremadura: “Our candidates are not puppets that we move with strings, we decide them in Madrid,” the leader of the Popular Party said during a visit to the Quesos del Casar factory in the town of Casar de Cáceres, where this person attended. Tomorrow to support the candidacy of Maria Guardiola and the local primary sector. His statements come after Abascal’s warning in an interview with Extremaduran newspaper todayRegarding the Conservatives’ position of not reaching an agreement with the Vox Party – the coalition partner for a year in the regional executive – that “if Guardiola continues, the PP will probably have to change candidates.”
The Vox party president, like Figo and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has set foot in Extremadura to promote the upcoming regional elections on December 21. In the last election, in 2023, the far-right party gave the key to Guardiola’s junta, and now, in order to do the same, the People’s Party of Extremadura is demanding that it reject green policies and support its anti-immigration policy. In the face of the threat posed by Abascal, Figo was firm: “At Fox this kind of conversation is possible, in my party it is impossible. In my party, it is not possible at this stage to control advance candidates decided by one person.”
Figo attacked for several minutes the way the far-right party selects its candidates: “I don’t know the name of Vox’s candidate, and I think most of the people of Extremadura don’t know, but those who know will know that this candidate was nominated from Madrid and not from Extremadura.” On the other hand, he insisted that Guardiola “is the president of the autonomous region, and the politician who at this moment has the best chance, not only of winning, but of forming a stable government.” With this, he launched a petition to the rest of the candidates: “What I would like to ask the political parties is to accept the result of the elections: it seems that one is ruling, and not to prevent whoever wins from ruling.”
For the PP leader, the result of Extremadura’s elections on December 21 will not only define the region in the coming years, but also “the coming years for Spain.” The reason for this, he said, was that “Extremadura could become a standard of common sense, a standard of useful policy, a standard of honest politicians, a standard of a free land.”
After visiting the facilities of the cheese factory, where the famous Torta del Casar is produced, Figo spoke to the media about other current affairs, such as Spain’s withdrawal from Eurovision (a decision he described as “hypocritical”), the “deplorable cases of abuse and harassment of women” by socialist and high-ranking party official Francisco Salazar or the multiple recidivism law. “Spain is subject to an intolerable corruption agenda, and the government’s judicial agenda is absolutely extraordinary,” the PP leader stated.