The leader of Spain’s fastest growing political party has called for a latter-day version of the country’s centuries-long efforts during the Middle Ages to recapture the country from Muslim forces.
He made the startling comparison during a recent rally staged for Patriots for Europe, the European parliament’s third-largest voting bloc. Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox and president of Patriots for Europe, said the European continent needed a new Reconquista to fight an “Islamist invasion”, “climatic terrorism” and “woke ideology”, reports The Times.
It notes that thousands of voters for Abascal's populist right-wing party roared approvingly and waved Spanish flags in response. The enthusiastic reception for Abascal reflects a national trend that sees Vox making significant political headway as it sweeps up support with its anti-migrant rhetoric.
A quarter of Spaniards under the age of 24 could vote for Vox in the next elections, according to state pollster CIS – a figure that rises to 36 per cent among young men. Formed in 2013, the “Catholic nationalist party” is now Spain’s third-largest force in parliament and polling at a historic high: polls suggest it might win between 16 and 18 per cent of the vote.
Abascal and his party is targeting undecided and left-wing voters in Spain who have become disillusioned with the country's situation in regard to immigration, a housing crisis, political corruption and low wages.
Hermann Tertsch, a close adviser to Abascal and a Spanish MEP, said: “We have cracked the bipartisan system. Now it’s done. Sooner or later we are going to surpass the other parties.”
Despite that confidence, due to Spain’s history and its civil war, the threat from the “far-right” – which is how many view Vox – mobilises many voters in a country where the memory of the right-wing dictator Francisco Franco remains a potent force 50 years after his death, notes The Times. But, it adds, polls suggest that even manual workers are abandoning left-wing parties for Vox, with such workers increasing from 13 per cent of its supporters to 20 per cent in a year.
At the rally, Abascal read out an editorial published by the left-wing Spanish newspaper El País that described Vox as “a national-Catholic party in the style of Viktor Orban’s in Hungary, with a racist, homophobic, climate-denialist discourse that mocks gender violence”. His response was to declare that such “lies” are a badge of honour, reports The Times.
Until recently, immigration was not considered a pressing problem by Spanish voters, but last year it became the highest priority for voters according to CIS. This followed a number of attacks involving immigrants that were widely reported and shocked the country.
A Sigma Dos poll for the El Mundo newspaper published last month suggested that 70 per cent of Spaniards, including 57 per cent of Socialist voters, were in favour of deporting illegal immigrants.
Photo: Santiago Abascal, leader of Spanish Vox party, speaks on the stage at the end of a Patriots for Europe rally at Palacio de Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain, 14 September 2025. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images.)
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