Vox ties its 1,700 councilors short and undermines the autonomy of municipal groups

Vox wants to shortchange the almost 1,700 councilors it obtained in the municipal elections on May 28. The leadership of the party chaired by Santiago Abascal has approved a new internal regulation, to which EL PAÍS has had access, which undermines the autonomy of the municipal groups and transfers most of their powers to the training apparatus.

“The National Executive Committee (CEN) has full power to remove from their positions any of the people designated to be part of the governing bodies of the municipal group,” states this regulation in its final provision, unparalleled in other major parties. national level. This is a battery of provisions that deprive Vox elected officials of powers such as appointing officials of municipal public companies or filing complaints in defense of their neighbors. To ensure compliance, he imposes strict discipline: those who fail to comply are threatened with sanctions that can lead to expulsion from the party.

The General Internal Regulations for Vox Local Positions, with 30 articles and four provisions, were sent at the beginning of this month to all councilors, provincial deputies and insular councilors of the party, without any explanation or indication other than that it had been approved “recently” by the National Executive Committee (CEN). It is assumed that the previous one did it, since this body was renewed on January 27, in the general assembly of Vox, and has not met with its new composition until last Monday.

The regulations obliges elected officials to “maintain total confidentiality regarding all information they receive from the group or party,” as well as to keep “the deliberations, agreements, documentation and reports” secret; In short, the municipal activity of the group,” the text highlights, except for that which Vox's communications managers decide to make public or when “the legal procedure itself requires it.” All councilors must sign a confidentiality document and another by which they transfer to the ultra formation “the image and intellectual property rights of their work.”

According to this regulation, the Vox groups in local institutions must follow the instructions of the provincial person in charge, appointed by the National Vice-Secretary of Organization, who will convey to them “arguments and political and technical instructions”, as well as “the political positions and the meanings of vote” in the different votes of the consistory, all of this to guarantee “the necessary unity of doctrine of the party.” In the event of the absence of the group spokesperson, it will be up to the national leadership to decide who assumes their duties; as well as electing replacements in internal positions for councilors who leave the group or break their discipline.

The regulation details the way in which the positions of municipally owned companies whose appointment corresponds to Vox must be elected. The municipal groups will send files with the technical requirements of the position, three or more resumes of possible candidates and an appointment proposal to the vice secretaries of Organization and Management; but it will be the latter – that is, the party apparatus in Madrid – that will have the last word. “Any appointment that is not made through this procedure will not have the approval of the party, which may demand the dismissal of the appointee and, where appropriate, determine the responsibilities required,” warns article 12 of the regulations.

Especially strict are the rules on the right to judicial protection of councillors. “The elected officials of the party […] “They are not authorized in any case to formulate, in their own name or on behalf of the party, complaints, complaints or any writing that involves filing a claim, complaint or similar before any body, whether jurisdictional or not,” it warns exhaustively.

The only exceptions are complaints in defense of their “strictly private and private sphere” interests; But, even in this case, if the action is directed against the institution in which he carries out his work or people from it, the councilor must inform the party, which may object. In other cases, the filing of criminal complaints or contentious-administrative appeals will require prior authorization from the legal area of ​​the training.

The rules imposed on municipal groups are so broad and extensive that, to ensure compliance, the National Executive Committee (CEN) has included in the regulations a specific disciplinary regime for its councilors, different and harsher than the one that appears in its statutes. , the only one that has been approved by the Vox General Assembly.

Thus, it punishes as a serious offense, punishable by suspension from militancy and disqualification from holding public office representing the party for a period of up to two years, failing to comply with the duty of confidentiality or disregarding “the instructions” of the party's governing bodies. . And it classifies as a very serious offense, which can lead to expulsion from the party, filing complaints, complaints or appeals in violation of the orders of the legal area of ​​the party.

After initially trying to get the municipal groups to hand over to Vox the public subsidies they receive for their operation, which ended up being rejected as illegal, the regulation enshrines the formula used by the training in recent years: the signing of collaboration agreements between said groups. groups and the party apparatus by virtue of which the latter provides them with services of “political and strategic advice, formal and informal political communication, social networks, political and institutional training…”, in exchange for a fixed annual amount, at margin of the quantity or quality of the services actually provided. Until now, these agreements have not been questioned by the Court of Auditors.

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