Despite the forecast, the rain did not make an appearance during the presentation rally of the candidates for the May elections in the Plaza de Toros de Murcia on Sunday. There was even a moment, during the appearance of the national leader, Santiago Abascal, in which the sun appeared rather briefly.
It had been 27 years since this bullfighting arena had hosted a political rally, the last time it was with the Popular Party candidate for the presidency of Spain, José María Aznar.
The bullring began to fill with Vox supporters from ten in the morning, two long hours before the start of the event. With banners in hand, and with their sights on a victory on May 28, many young people entertained themselves at the entrance as they were joined by a number of street vendors trying to sell a variety of Vox products.
Except for a small area behind the stage, the bullring stands were filled with almost 15,000 supporters, the vast majority from Murcia, but also many thousands of devotees from Madrid, Alicante, Almería, Valencia, Seville, Córdoba, Albacete, Lérida and Barcelona. Among those were the general secretary of Asaja, Alfonso Gálvez, and the businessmen Luis del Rivero and Tomás Fuertes.
Two Vox followers, María and Santiago, aged 70 and 76 respectively, travelled from Madrid to attend the rally. “We are voters and members and we follow them everywhere they go because we believe in what this party stands for, what it says and what it promises to do when it comes to power.” According to María, “it is an injustice that water has not yet been fairly distributed throughout Spain. Water belongs to everyone and it should not depend on where it comes from.
Ignacio was another attendee. He is 18 years old and lives in Murcia . “I am a first-year law student and I have come simply for political interest, I am not a supporter of any party.” He said that he felt the tone should be lowered with some issues, for example, in relation to “directly expelling illegal immigrants. I think the best thing would be to regularize the situation of these people and help them to join the world of work.
Local resident Antelo said that he wanted to see a Mar Menor law “that really protects farmers”
“The first thing to do to improve the country’s economy is to get Sánchez out of the way. Until we do that, we will achieve nothing,” said a 54-year-old woman from Almería. Antonio, meanwhile, a 46-year-old resident of Los Ramos, values Vox’s position on the agri-food sector. “I am not a farmer, but I think we all depend on agriculture. In some areas of Spain they have a lot of water and they run it off into the sea, while here we suffer from drought. José lives in Albacete, is 64 years old and he believes that Vox could solve the unemployment problem in just two years.
As is usual at all Vox events, the rally in the Murcian bullring ended with the national anthem and a shower of green confetti.
