Vox is left alone in the Council of Mallorca against the granting of the National Poetry Prize to Sebastià Alzamora

PalmaPoetry entered the plenary session of the Council of Mallorca this Thursday, but not to discuss its literary merits. Vox brought a motion against the awarding of the 2026 National Poetry Prize to Sebastià Alzamora, endowed with 30,000 euros, and has turned the award into a reason for political confrontation. The proposal, defended in Spanish by the deputy spokesperson for Vox, David Gil, did not question the quality of the work, but rather reproached the writer and columnist for the newspaper ARA for his opinions on Spain, the institutions, and history.

Gil began by quoting Alzamora, but in Spanish: “Spain is a repressive country, of political prisoners, with a corrupt justice system and a criminal history”. He then questioned the fact that the State would grant a 30,000 euro prize to someone who, according to the motion, has held these positions. “One thing is being able to say whatever one wants and another is to receive a distinction” with public money, he stated. He also criticized the fact that the President of the Congress, Francina Armengol, was the first to congratulate the poet, and insinuated a possible influence on the verdict, even though the award was granted at the proposal of a jury.

The text from Vox includes articles by Alzamora published in the newspaper ARA, in which the writer described the speech by Felipe VI on October 3, 2017, as “infamous” and the police charges of October 1, described the trial of the 'procés' as a “pantomime”, among other examples reviewed by the far-right representative at the island institution.

Vox maintains that its proposal “does not intend to censor the writer, but to express disagreement with an institutional distinction funded with public money”. “Questioning a public prize is not censorship, but defending freedom of expression”, argued Gil. The paradox of the session was that, while the motion appealed to freedom of expression, it asked the plenary session to speak out against a prize awarded by another administration because of the public opinions of the recipient.

Tension with PP partners

The motion has been rejected by 24 votes against and five in favor, but the debate has highlighted the tension between the two partners that govern together in the Council, PP and Vox. While the Popular Party members have defended that the institution should not enter into questioning an award that it does not correspond to it to grant, David Gil has reproached the PP for its position and has accused it of having "complexes" regarding Spain.

The PP has defended freedom of expression and thought, the independence of the jury, and respect for the competencies of each institution. The popular representative has said that the Council should not enter into questioning an award that it does not correspond to it to grant and has recalled that the PP has incorporated Spanish into the Mallorca Literary Creation Awards.

In the reply, Gil has turned the reproach towards his governing partners: "What does the PP owe to separatism? We are your governing partners, but we are not partners in your complexes. We have not come to the Council to ask for permission every time we pronounce the word Spain."

The opposition recognizes the award winner

The rest of the opposition parties have also highlighted the absurdity of the proposal. The Majorcan party El Pi considered the motion to be “extremely revealing”, but not because of what it said about the awardee, rather about Vox. Their spokesperson asked whether, before granting an award, one should ask the candidates if they are republicans or monarchists: “If that is the case, we do not need literary juries, but ideological commissars”. She also defended that a person who thinks differently has the same right to express themselves and to be recognized for their merits, and warned that “Majorca is not a cultural province that you have to correct”.

Joan Llodrà, from MÉS per Mallorca, described it as “ugly” that the institution, “the home of all Majorcans”, would criticize an author from the island instead of congratulating him for the award. He accused Vox of seeking provocation and putting the PP's government partners in a compromising position. The socialist spokesperson, Catalina Cladera, also linked the initiative to the tensions between the PP and Vox and considered that the motion attacked the freedom of creation and literature in Catalan. “They cannot tolerate that a writer who writes in Catalan has recognition and success”, she said.

The vice president of Vox at the Council, under investigation

Precisely, during this Thursday's plenary session, the admission for processing of the Prosecutor's Office's complaint against Pedro Bestard, second vice president of the Council and highest representative of Vox in the institution. A Palma court is investigating him for an alleged crime of misappropriation related to the use of official vehicles for personal use. Now, the magistrate will have to summon him to testify as an investigated party.