Abascal warns of electoral fraud, urges distrust of polls ahead of Spanish elections

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party and candidate for Prime Minister, has warned that the upcoming Spanish general elections on November 29 may not be clean, urging citizens not to trust polls and accusing the government of attempting to manipulate the electoral process. Abascal claimed that the PSOE is using a 'law of grandchildren' to add 180,000 people to the electoral roll who should not be allowed to vote Source: El Español.

Allegations of fraud

During a campaign event in Ponferrada, Abascal stated he would be "very attentive" to ensure the electoral process is "clean" and "transparent," and to denounce any irregularities Source: El Español. He accused the government of dominating the Constitutional Court with the help of the Popular Party (PP) and suggested that the PP has shown "many weaknesses" that he hopes to "fix" after the elections Source: El Español.

'Great replacement' rhetoric

El Mundo reports that Abascal invoked the 'great replacement' theory, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of trying to "replace the Spanish people" through the 'law of grandchildren' and the mass regularization of immigrants Source: El Mundo (ES). Abascal stated that Sánchez "pretends to replace a people he hates by giving the vote in elections to people who have never lived in Spain" Source: El Español.

Government response

Meanwhile, the government has criticized the possibility of an agreement between Vox and the PP on Senate candidacies, which could give them a qualified majority to appoint conservative magistrates to the Constitutional Court. The Executive argued that such an agreement would prove that the PP "is already 'far-right'" Source: El Mundo (ES). This comes days after the PSOE and the Frente Amplio signed their own agreement with the opposite goal Source: El Mundo (ES).