Spain's right-wing Vox party, which surprised everyone by winning 12 seats in recent elections in Andalusia, said it will only support the right-wing coalition it forms with other parties if they agree to ditch the legislation draft that supposedly aims to fight domestic violence.
The legislation seeks to secure a whopping €1 billion programme, which should implement some 200 measures to tackle domestic violence, mostly by providing social, psychological, and legal assistance for the victims, and by creating school curricula that would teach children about matters of sexism.
"They are submitting to the commandments of the gender dictatorship," Vox candidate Francisco Serrano tweeted on Wednesday.
The party's spokesperson in Andalusia's parliament, Francisco Serrano, also tweeted that what Vox wants is to to eliminate "prejudices" and "respect the presumption of innocence, as well as judicial independence".
Additionally, the party seeks "to put an end to million-dollar subsidies that encourage feminist supremacy and left-wing ideology."
According to the party, these measures are "dictated by gender ideology with radical feminist associations."
Unsurprisingly, the initial response from both The Popular Party and their centre-right counterpart, Ciudadanos, was a firm denial.
"Freedom and equality are non-negotiable," Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera said, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Gender-based violence is currently a hot topic in Spain, after a group of five men — now know as La Manada, or The Wolfpack — attacked a woman during the San Fermín bull-running festival in Pamplona.
The national debate was fuelled Wednesday by a regional court ruling, which said the men should remain out on bail while they wait for the appeal hearing against their conviction of sexual abuse.
Despite the parties' initial reaction, Vox remains confident that their coalition mates will review their positions.
"If Ciudadanos and PP want Vox votes, they will have to sit down with Vox to hear the electoral programme of our 12 MPs," the party tweeted.
The rise of Vox marks the first major victory of a right-wing movement in Spain in decades, Daily Telegraph reports. Right now, right-wing movements have gained traction in Europe, Latin America and the United States, the website says.
