The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, questioned this Thursday the guarantees of the general elections on November 29 during a rally held in Segovia, where he directed his main criticisms against Pedro Sánchez for the management of immigration, the Ceuta crisis, and the situation of pensioners. "Why do we have to trust that these elections will be clean?", he posed to the attendees.
The event, called at 7:00 PM, brought together the national leader of Vox with representatives of the party in Castilla y León and with their candidate for Congress for Segovia, Gonzalo Babé. The meeting took place after Abascal visited Burgos in the morning, as part of an intense pre-campaign tour that this week has also taken him to Ponferrada, A Coruña, and Avilés.
In his speech, Abascal presented Sánchez's continuity in the Government as a threat to pensioners. "The risk to the security of pensioners is the continuity of Pedro Sánchez," he stated, thus incorporating the elderly into his discourse against the Executive.
From Ceuta to electoral guarantees
The migration crisis in Ceuta has occupied another of the main blocks of his speech. The president of Vox has again held the Government responsible for the situation recorded in the autonomous city and has accused Sánchez of failing to meet his commitments to the Spanish people.
"It is a Government that has lied to the Spaniards and betrayed them, the latest betrayal is Ceuta", Abascal assured.
His statements come after Spanish migration policy has returned to public debate following criticisms from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the management of the Ceuta crisis. Vox has taken advantage of this episode to insist on its proposals for border control and tightening the conditions for entry and stay of foreigners in Spain.
Abascal has also conveyed his suspicions about the guarantees of the upcoming general elections. His question about the cleanliness of the 29N occurs in a context where Vox has been questioning certain electoral procedures, especially those related to the voting of Spaniards residing abroad.
Hours earlier, during his visit to Burgos, the leader had denounced alleged irregularities linked to the electoral census and the application of the known as Grandchildren's Law. The party has announced judicial initiatives related to this issue and has expressed its doubts about the functioning of overseas voting.
However, the suspicions expressed by Vox do not in themselves prove the existence of electoral fraud. The guarantees of the process correspond to the electoral administration, under the supervision of the electoral boards.
A message to voters of other parties
Despite the confrontational tone with the Executive, Abascal has also introduced a message directed at citizens who in previous electoral calls opted for other parties.
"We have no reproach to any Spaniard, regardless of what they voted for in the past", he stated, in an intervention with which he tried to broaden the reach of his electoral message.
The appeal comes when Vox has just announced its heads of list for Congress and is preparing the joint presentation of its candidates, scheduled for Monday, October 26 in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo).
The party thus intensifies its territorial activity just over five weeks before the general elections, with an agenda of events that combines the presentation of candidacies with the interventions of its national president. The visit to Segovia is part of that tour. During the week, Abascal has participated in a rally in Ponferrada, has traveled to Galicia and Asturias, and has returned this Thursday to Castilla y León, with an appearance in Burgos before the Segovian event.
Vox presents its candidate for Segovia
The rally has also served to give prominence to Gonzalo Babé, head of the Vox list for Congress for Segovia, who has claimed his connection to the province despite having been born in Madrid. As he explained, he has spent his whole life summering in a family home in the area.
Babé has promised to work for cultural and historical heritage, tourism, and tax reduction. He has also warned supporters not to become complacent ahead of the upcoming elections and has denounced alleged attempts at manipulation by his opponents.
"Those who label us as extremists I like to tell them that yes, they are right, we are of extreme necessity," the candidate proclaimed.
In the meeting, Carlos Pollán, leader of Vox in Castilla y León, also intervened, defending his party's actions against immigration policies and describing immigration as "invasion." He also assured that "not a single euro of the Castilian-Leonese will be allocated to finance illegal immigration."
For his part, Babé has claimed his personal connection to Segovia, despite being from Madrid, and explained that he has spent his entire life summering in the province, where his family has a home. The candidate has pointed out the protection of historical and cultural heritage, tourism, and tax reduction among his priorities.
"We are going to grow not only in Segovia but nationally, but we must not get complacent because we already know that we are facing a mafia that is capable of doing anything to manipulate," Babé stated.