Pedro Marqués: "The instability of Vox in Menorca cannot be disguised"

PalmaPedro Marqués has been in charge of coordinating Vox in Menorca for six months. The party appointed him after his predecessor, Santiago Barber, resigned in protest because the executive stopped paying the headquarters. And before Barber, Xisco Cardona also suffered: the formation has been forced to change coordinators almost every year. Marqués has been tasked with rebuilding the party after it was left without Menorcan representation in the Parliament, the Insular Council, and the city councils of Ciutadella and Maó as a consequence of internal struggles.

It has been half a year since you received the assignment to recover the party after the crisis.

— It is a somewhat difficult legislature. We got one representative in Parliament, one in the Island Council, one in the Maó City Council, and one in the Ciutadella City Council. Of these four representatives, no one remains. Halfway through the legislature, everything fell apart. This caused disappointment and discredit to the voter and the sympathizer, and putting it back together is the complication we have.

There is internal instability.

— The instability of Vox Menorca is evident. It cannot be hidden. We are the seventh coordinator there has been. What we should achieve is organic stability, with a coordinator who has time to establish the party. For this, support is needed from the Balearic Islands, and this was the small condition I gave to the party leader, Gabriel Le Senne, to have stability. I must also say that the last three coordinators have ceased to be, not because of the party, but because of themselves.

Are you still thirsty?

— We don't have an office, nor will we have one until after the elections and we see what result we get. Nevertheless, I have a commitment from the Balearic leadership to be able to set up an electoral office in Menorca so that people can come to get information, when it is election period.

What militancy do you currently have?

— It remains between 140 and 150 militants. Losses, lately there are none. Some increase.

Do you think Menorca is a more difficult territory for Vox than others?

— In Menorca it is difficult to establish oneself and it has been demonstrated. The high turnover reflects the difficulty of establishing oneself in the territory. We notice the sympathy for Vox in the street. It is true that we have a hidden vote. Many people want to vote for Vox. But people do not express it so openly.

Are you having trouble making signings?

— The vote is there. But it's hard to find people who want to identify with Vox and represent that vote. In Menorca, being from Podem is no problem, but being from Vox still commands a bit of respect. People already identify me, I've never worried about it, because I think what I think. I'm from the moderate right. In the end, a party is a philosophy, but those who dignify the party are the people who represent it. I apply Vox's ideology to my way of being and thinking. A party is a way to access institutions to try to improve society. And the ideology, afterwards, must be applied to the territory, which has its own idiosyncrasies, its own needs.

What reading are you doing from Menorca of the crisis of Vox at the state level?

— State matters affect all territories, and in Menorca, too. But we must distinguish. It is not good that organic party officials, some of them founders, have ended badly with the leadership. On the other hand, the Vox voter is loyal. Once you vote for Vox, you don't leave. If you vote for it, it's because you are disillusioned with the PP. Returning to the PP is more complicated, regardless of what happens organically within the party. Then, at the institutional level, we see that there are difficulties in reaching an agreement with the PP. I attribute this more to a PP problem than a Vox problem. We must distinguish between institutional and organic matters, and in this case, I hold the PP more responsible than Vox.