Santiago Abascal

Santiago Abascal Conde (Spanish pronunciation: [sanˈtjaɣo aβasˈkal ˈkonde]; born 14 April 1976) is a Spanish politician who has been the leader of Vox party since September 2014 and a member of the Congress of Deputies in representation of Madrid since 2019. Before the creation of Vox, Abascal, a former long-standing member of the People's Party, served as legislator in the Basque Parliament, founded the Foundation for the Defence of the Spanish Nation and exerted the role of director of publicly funded entities of the Community of Madrid.

Santiago Abascal MP
President of Vox
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 September 2014
Preceded by	José Luis González Quirós
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2019
Constituency	Madrid
Director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid
In office 4 February 2010 – 28 December 2012
President	Esperanza Aguirre
Preceded by	Antonio Troncoso
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of the Basque Parliament
In office 4 October 2005 – 6 January 2009
Constituency	Álava
In office 16 January 2004 – 22 February 2005
Constituency	Álava
Member of the General Assembly of Álava
In office 13 June 2003 – 3 February 2005
Constituency	Vitoria
Member of the City Council of Llodio
In office 13 June 1999 – 16 June 2007
Personal details
Born	Santiago Abascal Conde 14 April 1976 Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
Political party	People's Party (1994–2013) Vox (2014–present)
Spouse(s)	Lidia Bedman ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	4
Alma mater	University of Deusto

Early life

Abascal was born in Bilbao. Both Abascal's father (member of People's Party) and grandfather (mayor during Franco's dictatorship)[1] were local politicians in the province of Álava.[2][3]

Political career

Abascal giving a speech in 2018 in Vistalegre.

He became a member of the People's Party at age 18, in 1994.[4][5] Abascal was city councillor of Llodio for two terms (1999–2007).[6] He served in the Basque Parliament from January 2004 to February 2005 representing Álava.[7] He later served again in the regional legislature from October 2005 to January 2009.[8]

Following his exit from Basque politics, Esperanza Aguirre, the regional president of the Community of Madrid, found him a niche in the region, hand picking him to the post of director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid (2010–2012); Abascal was later appointed to another post as Director of the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship (2013),[4] a publicly funded entity without known activity during Abascal's spell.[9][10]

Abascal left the PP in 2013[5] and helped to found a new party, Vox, formed on the same day the Foundation for Patronage and Social Sponsorship dissolved.[9][11] After Vox's bad result in the May 2014 European Parliament election (in which it failed to obtain any seats), inner strife between a faction represented by party members such as Ignacio Camuñas, José Luis González Quirós and Alejo Vidal-Quadras and a hardline faction (featuring Abascal along with other figures of the DENAES Foundation) followed.[12] The moderate faction became estranged from the party,[12] and Abascal became the new president on 20 September 2014.[13]

Santiago Abascal's political programme for 2018 includes the expulsion of all illegal immigrants, the construction of "impassable walls" in the Spanish African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the prohibition of the teaching of Islam, the exaltation of "national heroes", the elimination of all regional parliaments and opposition to Catalan nationalism.[14] He used anti-Muslim rhetoric in 2019, calling for a new Reconquista or reconquest of Spain.[15]

He makes the fight against feminism - which he calls "feminazism" - one of his priorities. Hostile to the policy of combating gender violence, he believes that men are stigmatised by feminists. A climate-sceptic, he believes that global warming is the "greatest swindle in history".[16]

On economic issues, he claims the legacy of José Maria Aznar (president of the government from 1996 to 2004), and is in favour of a liberal and conservative line, including a sharp reduction in public spending.[17]

Personal life

He first married Ana Belén Sánchez, herself a PP candidate in local elections in Llodio and Zuia, with whom he had 2 children.[18] In June 2018 he married the Spanish blogger and influencer Lidia Bedman-Lapeña.[19] He had two children with Bedman.[20][18] Abascal is a long-time member of the Spanish Ornithological Society.[21] Abascal is an affiliate of the ultraconservative association Hazteoir (HO), and was the recipient of a HO Award in 2012.[22]

Abascal was one of several Spanish politicians to test positive for the COVID-19 virus during the 2020 pandemic.[23]

References

1. "Abascal, el 'ex' del PP que lleva la extrema derecha a la política nacional". Eitb (in Spanish). 3 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
2. "Muere Santiago Abascal, exdirigente del PP vasco y padre del líder de VOX". Efe.com (in Spanish). Vitoria. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
3. Los Genoveses (27 April 2019). "Santiago Abascal: un ultra con sueldo y pistola". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
4. Gutiérrez, Óscar. "¿Quién es Santiago Abascal, líder del partido Vox?". 20minutos.
5. Amón, Rubén (3 December 2018). "Santiago Abascal, el fan de Marine Le Pen". El País.
6. "Santiago Abascal: del PP vasco a sacudir la política española en Andalucía". La Vanguardia. 3 December 2018.
7. García Martín, Javier (28 April 2019). "La post-España de Santiago Abascal". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
8. "Santiago Abascal Conde" (PDF). Voxespana.es (in Spanish). 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
9. Pérez Mendoza, Sofía (13 January 2019). "La fundación que dirigió Abascal se extinguió sin dejar rastro de su último año de actividad". eldiario.es.
10. Guzmán, Cecilia (6 November 2013). "Santiago Abascal se 'forra' al amparo del PP madrileño". El Plural.
11. Maestre, Antonio (9 December 2018). "Manual de VOX para antifascistas emocionales". La Marea.
12. Sangiao, Sergio (23 January 2019). "Los tránsfugas de Abascal". CTXT.
13. "Santiago Abascal, nuevo presidente de Vox con el 91% de los votos". Publico.es. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
14. de Laguérie, Henry (14 November 2019). "Santiago Abascal, l'homme derrière le retour de l'extrême droite en Espagne". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved January 20, 2021.
15. Walker, Kira (29 April 2019). "Spain's far-right makes election gains using anti-Muslim sentiment". The National.
16. Chapelle, Sophie (22 October 2020). "Déni du réchauffement, mépris pour les renouvelables, haine des réfugiés climatiques : le «fascisme fossile»". bastamag.net (in French). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
17. "Santiago Abascal, l'homme au pistolet qui a ressuscité l'extrême droite espagnole". Le Point (in French). 28 April 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
18. "Así es la primera mujer de Santiago Abascal: la expolítica con la que compartió partido y desahucio". El Plural (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-25.
19. Villar, C. (9 October 2018). "La boda cool de Santiago Abascal (VOX) con la bloguera Lidia Bedman Lapeña este verano". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Titania Compañía Editorial, S.L. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
20. "Así es Lidia Bedman, la pareja 'egoblogger' de Santiago Abascal, líder de VOX". La Vanguardia. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
21. "Abascal: un aficionado a los pájaros casado con una 'influencer'". Cadena COPE (in Spanish). Radio Popular S.A. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
22. Bastante, Jesús (7 December 2018). "Las conexiones de Vox con HazteOir, los 'kikos' y una docena de obispos españoles". eldiario.es (in Spanish).
23. "Santiago Abascal, líder de Vox, da positivo en coronavirus". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 12 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.

External links

• Official website