The former spokesperson for Vox in the Madrid City Council and now non-attached councilor, Javier Ortega Smith, maintains his confidence that the courts will "repair" his expulsion from Vox, a decision he qualifies as "arbitrary," "unjust," and "unjustified," and insists that "no one can be expelled in that way."
"We will wait for that judicial resolution. I wish for justice to be done and for the courts to understand that no one can be expelled in that way," he stated to the media after the last municipal Plenary before the summer break.
The councilor, who has expressed his discomfort with his new status as non-attached in Cibeles, detailed that once the ruling on the lawsuit for violation of fundamental rights he has filed against his expulsion is known, he will study the ruling and then decide what relationship he will maintain with Vox.
"I believe that the arbitrariness and injustice of the National Executive Committee, unjustifiably expelling me from Vox, must have a judicial remedy. When that remedy occurs, I will analyze what the judicial ruling says and at that moment I will have to make a decision," he indicated.
Ortega Smith appears as a non-attached councilor after the precautionary measures he had requested against his expulsion were denied. The main procedure, in which he denounces a possible violation of his fundamental rights, continues to be processed and is awaiting a definitive ruling.
"We will wait for that judicial resolution. I wish for justice to be done and for the courts to understand that no one can be expelled in that way. When the time comes, I will assess what my position regarding Vox should be," he reiterated.
Abascal as "a mirror" of Rajoy
Regarding his departure from the Vox parliamentary group in Congress, Ortega Smith referred to the open letter he addressed to the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, in which, as he explained, he used the same expressions that Abascal once used to criticize former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for his management at the head of the PP. "Unfortunately, it is a mirror of what he has done. What he criticized Mariano Rajoy for, he has done in Vox," he asserted.
Although he has distanced himself from the current leadership of the party, he maintains that his ideological line is intact and that he remains faithful to the founding principles of Vox. "I have not committed any irregularity or any betrayal," he emphasized, before attacking an internal "clique" in political formations that decides "arbitrarily" which leaders should be removed.
"They decide that this person is not interesting to continue having prominence, that they can overshadow and that we want to put someone else. Without taking into account whether you have done well or poorly, or whether you have worked correctly, they eliminate you and, if you do not comply with the order, they expel you," he denounced.
Less voice and resources in the Madrid City Council
The councilor has also assessed the impact that his transition to the group of non-affiliated will have on his work in the City Council. According to the rules set by the Presidency of the Plenary, he will only be able to register one initiative every two ordinary plenaries and one every four Government Area commissions.
In this context, he warned that there will be plenary sessions in which he will not be able to present any initiative and criticized that his speaking turns may be limited to one minute, compared to the six minutes of those defending a proposition and the three of the other municipal groups. "Being a councilor of a group gives you certain speaking times, certain initiative possibilities, and human and material resources that I have evidently been deprived of," he explained.
Likewise, he questioned that an internal decision of a party's leadership could cut the powers of a representative elected at the polls by the people of Madrid before the end of the term. "They limit your time, they limit your initiatives, and your capacity to represent the citizens is restricted," he lamented.
During the Plenary in Cibeles, the president of the Plenary, Borja Fanjul, has expressed his willingness to analyze together with the entire Corporation a possible reform of the Organic Regulation of the Plenary (ROP) to correct the existing "gaps." For its part, Más Madrid has demanded that he put an end to the "legal matryoshkas" in favor of "turncoats," a label that Ortega Smith has categorically rejected when referring to his own situation.