Le Senne uses the presidency of Parliament as a political platform.

PalmGabriel Le Senne He became the fifteenth president of the Balearic Parliament (and the first from Vox) because he "got lucky," as a source within the party put it at the time. Madrid dictated his appointment even though he was seventh on the list and lacked internal support in the Islands. Two and a half years later, he has become Vox's main asset in the Balearic Islands. The position of second-highest authority in the region has served as a platform for him, especially since the controversy he sparked when he went to detach a photograph of Aurora Picornell and the Rojas del Molinar during a full house. From that moment on, he increasingly established a political profile within the institution.

The week in which the PP and Vox have definitively repealed the democratic memory lawThat episode was well known to many members of parliament. Several sources consulted believe that, in that plenary session in June 2024, Le Senne simply lost his temper. The president, who is awaiting trial for an alleged hate crime related to these events, reacted impulsively and roughly tore up the photographs of the women who had been targeted when the Socialist members of the PSIB board refused to remove them. He said they had "provoked" him and refused to resign, which further enraged the left, who took legal action. However, that fortuitous episode also brought him prominence among his supporters. "For his electorate, he is a martyr," a PP source asserts. The national leadership of Vox took note.

Meanwhile, the defeat of the Vox parliamentary group helped pave the way for Le Senne, and a year later, he was appointed president of the party in the Balearic Islands. With Congressman Jorge Campos out of Parliament—and lacking the confidence of Santiago Abascal's leadership—the Speaker of the House has now become a strong contender to head an electoral list.

This internal repositioning has gradually translated into an increasingly assertive leadership. While initially Le Senne played a moderate role, to the point of exasperating Vox deputies when he sided with the Socialists in plenary sessions, this has changed. In recent months, Le Senne has been increasingly revealing its political colors.Thus, he boasted of having added the Spanish translation of the Official Gazette of the Parliament (BOPIB) for the first time since the Parliament's constitution. In plenary sessions, the left accuses him of being too permissive with Vox, which has prompted constant complaints from parliamentary groups in the Board of Spokespersons. When Vox deputy Patricia de las Heras referred to the left as "mentally deficient" [last February 17], he merely said, pressured by the PSIB: "We moderate our language." In the following plenary session, when Manuela Cañadas (Vox) accused the left of being "complicit" in "murders," in the context of a debate on irregular immigration, he refused to remove these words from the official record. "I'm not going to delete them," he justified: "It's a political matter, just as you call us fascists." In the debate to repeal the memory law, he also refused to retract the words of the deputy spokesperson, Sergio Rodríguez, who accused the PSIB of being "accustomed to standing up for murderers."

"The level of verbal aggression in plenary sessions is very high, and he is far too permissive," laments a source from the People's Party. "His lack of experience is getting him into trouble, and on top of that, he only listens to Vox's leadership," they point out. Sources from the Parliament's governing board agree: "He consults everything in Madrid." The Deputy Secretary for Government Action of the national executive committee, Montse Lluís, coordinates the actions of all the presidents of regional parliaments.

"He gets involved in every mess."

"Since Vox left the regional governments, all they have left are the presidencies of parliaments, and they use them as a counterpoint to the PP's executives," adds a PP source. "I don't think it's appropriate, because that position should be neutral." The most criticized example of this was President Le Senne's speech on March 1st, on the occasion of Balearic Islands Day, in which he railed against irregular immigration, the low birth rate among Spaniards, defended the use of Spanish in the Chamber, and questioned the usefulness of autonomy. "He meddles in everything," this source insists. Voices from the board claim that "many town councils have stopped inviting the institution."

In contrast, sources from his parliamentary group defend him. "He is very tolerant, maintains order, and applies the rules," this source asserts, and applauds his March 1st speech: "He touched on issues that are on everyone's mind." Similarly, he denounces a double standard when speaking about members of his party. "Former president Vicenç Thomàs (PSIB) always cut off speeches; Le Senne's style is much more democratic," he remarks. Political analyst Toni Fornés believes there has been "a change" in Le Senne's discourse, which accelerated after the publication of the BOPIB (Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands) in Spanish in early February. "He defends a political project that clashes with the Statute of Autonomy and the Constitution," he says. "This leads him to test the limits of the institutional position he holds," he adds. He warns that "his party needs him to have visibility as a leading figure and main candidate," especially as new elections draw near.