ANDALUCÍA'S regional presidential candidate has struck a deal with far-right outfit Vox to enable him to govern in coalition with centre-right Ciudadanos, signalling a complete about-turn in strategy for the southern territory.
Juanma Moreno of the right-wing PP is joining forces with Ciudadanos, given that no party obtained an outright majority in the recent regional elections, ending the socialist reign with Susana Díaz as Andalucía's president for two terms of office.
To ensure he is voted in during the in-house elections, Moreno needed a guaranteed 'yes' from Vox who, with 12 seats out of 110, has become the first far-right party to gain a foothold in government anywhere in Spain since General Franco's fascist dictatorship.
Although apparently a cause for concern, it is not thought Spain will feel much influence from the alt-right movement, given the very small number of seats Vox holds in just one of 19 regional Parliaments – those of each of the 17 self-governing territories, plus the two city-provinces of Ceuta and Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast.
Ciudadanos has been harshly criticised by its newest member at national level, former French prime minister Manuel Valls – who was born in Barcelona – for agreeing to a governing pact with the far right, but Ciudadanos Andalucía insists that of Vox' 37 proposed measures, 23 were already in its own manifesto.
Vox sparked outrage among women's groups when its list of conditions for supporting the PP and Ciudadanos included abolishing regional domestic violence and equality laws and legislation banning discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, but after a round of meetings with Moreno and his team, has agreed not to uphold this aspect.
The party also agreed to ditch its proposal to deport 52,000 immigrants and to 'celebrate' the Christian reconquest in the late Mediaeval era which saw the Moors thrown out of the country after 500 years of residence.
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