A group of former leaders and critical sectors of Vox, among them Iván Espinosa de los Monteros and Javier Ortega Smith, has demanded the calling of a congress open to all members with the aim of reviewing the strategy of the political project and detecting possible improvements in the internal functioning of the party.
The petition has been articulated through a manifesto disseminated at midnight this Wednesday on an unofficial website of the party, where it is urged to organize an extraordinary congress “with sufficient deadlines and clear rules” that allows for “a complete review of the party's internal architecture”.
In the text, the signatories raise the need for an “open debate on leadership, organization, political orientation and government strategy”, emphasizing that they do not seek to “impose an alternative candidacy” nor act against Vox. “Political loyalty is to ideas, not to people,” they emphasize.
The promoters equally demand “a serious political explanation” about the turns of orientation of the last years and an “open contrast about its meaning, its scope and its compatibility with the foundational ideas of the project”.
"What we defend and how we organize ourselves"
According to them, this congress “must be a space for serene and demanding contrast” in which both “political and ideological ideas” and “organizational” issues are addressed. In their opinion, “the underlying problem affects both dimensions: what we defend and how we organize ourselves to do it effectively, openly and with a vocation for government”.
Critics admit that Vox has experienced advances in voting intention in certain stages, but they maintain that it has not managed to “dispute hegemony in our own political space” and that “becoming a kingmaker party” —in allusion to the PP— constitutes a “strategic failure”.
Also they denounce that “the extreme concentration of power and the elimination of internal controls have had visible consequences” in the formation. They express their concern about the alleged presence of “a parallel network of opaque entities, unknown to most members, not subjected to sufficient scrutiny and linked to economic interests and exchanges that demand transparency”.
Necessary supports and statutory framework
Alongside the manifesto, a form has been enabled for any member or ex-member to publicly support the proposal for an extraordinary congress.
According to Vox's statutes, extraordinary meetings must be convened by the National Executive Committee (CEN), either by its own decision, or at written request of at least 20% of full members, who must specify in their petition the agenda proposed for discussion.
Among the promoters of the initiative are the former Vox spokesperson in Congress, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros; the still spokesperson for the party in the Madrid City Council, Javier Ortega Smith; the Madrid councilman and first president of the formation, Ignacio Ansaldo, and the former first vice-president, Víctor González Coello de Portugal, among other relevant names.
Internal context and recent expulsions
The proposal became known shortly after Vox made official the definitive expulsion of Ortega Smith, considering that he incurred a “very serious infraction” after frustrating his replacement in the Spokesperson's Office of the Madrid City Council, which led to the opening of a disciplinary file for disobedience and the suspension of membership.
In the manifesto released this Wednesday, reference is also made to the “removal of historical commanders and profiles” with “commitment to the project” without “sufficient explanations”, warning that the party “cannot dispense with their experience nor reduce its plurality”.
Last Monday, Espinosa de los Monteros —who left the party leadership in 2023— wrote on his ‘X’ account that “Vox's current strategy consists of shutting itself off, attacking everyone and all those who show not just a different criterion, but simply stupor at the situation they themselves have created”. In his opinion, “the current leadership shows capacity to retain, but not to broaden”.
After his expulsion, Ortega Smith declared that it is “four” who control the party from the shadows and that they do it “for the money”. Furthermore, he stated he appreciated “personal vanity” in the president, Santiago Abascal.