Despite the surge of right-wing politics across Europe – partly fueled by the pandemic and the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine – Spain’s center-left government, led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), has remarkably held its ground. This is not only due to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s effective economic policies, but also the failures and contradictions within the opposition parties.
To understand how Spain’s center-left PSOE has managed to retain power in recent years, it is essential to look not only at the government’s policy achievements but also at the missteps and internal crises plaguing the political right. Arguably, the tainted financial practices and credibility issues within right-wing parties have, in many ways, cleared the path for the left’s continued governance.
Following the Spanish Civil War, Spain was ruled by Franco’s fascist regime until 1975. In the post-dictatorship democratic era, two right-wing parties have become prominent in Spain’s political arena: the center-right Partido Popular (PP) and the far-right Vox. These two parties currently serve as the leading opposition forces in the Spanish Parliament, yet both of Spain’s two major conservative forces have controversial backgrounds: the Popular Party (PP) with its corruption-ridden history and Vox with its increasingly scrutinized funding sources.
PP’s corruption scandals
As one of Spain’s dominant political forces, the PP has held significant influence over the country’s modern political landscape. Yet its image has been deeply marred by a string of high-profile corruption scandals, most notably the Gürtel case, which exploded onto the national stage in 2018. More recently, a separate case related to pandemic-era contracts concluded in 2024, keeping the party’s tainted reputation at the forefront of public consciousness.
The Gürtel affair – widely regarded as the largest corruption scandal in Spanish history – implicated former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and ultimately triggered a no-confidence motion that forced his resignation. The case revealed a vast criminal network involving illicit enrichment, bribery, embezzlement and money laundering, with public losses exceeding 120 million euros ($136.47 million). Scores of senior party figures were convicted, receiving lengthy prison terms and multimillion-euro fines. The fallout not only ended Rajoy’s leadership but also delivered a major blow to the PP’s credibility, pushing many of its disillusioned former PP voters toward the emerging far-right party Vox.
The situation worsened when Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of the Madrid region, became embroiled in another corruption case. Her partner was found guilty of defrauding the government of 350,951 euros in health equipment purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic, using 15 fake invoices for fictitious expenses totaling 1.7 million euros. The case concluded with an eight-month prison sentence and a financial penalty, further damaging the PP’s credibility.
While the PP grappled with internal corruption, Vox faced its own scandal – this time concerning questionable foreign financing.
Vox’s contradictory financing
Launching a political party and maintaining visibility requires vast financial resources. Vox, known for its anti-Muslim rhetoric and platform advocating the expulsion of Muslims from Spain, ironically received its foundational funding from Muslim sources – a major contradiction and scandal.
Founded in December 2013, Vox received over 900,000 euros in 2014 from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled Iranian group once designated a terrorist organization. The party’s founder, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, admitted in interviews that he had been part of the “Friends of Free Iran” group for 18 years and sought financial support from the NCRI when establishing Vox. He stated, “They loved and supported me, and they collaborated with me for the party’s launch.”
Rocio Monasterio, a senior Vox figure, confirmed in an interview with El Pais that during the 2014 election campaign, 80% of the party’s funding came from Iranian exiles. Donations poured in from 15 different countries. According to party insiders quoted in El Chivato, “Muslim names appear in our accounting records.”
Furthermore, members of the NCRI, a group with Islamic-Marxist roots, confirmed that they funded Vidal-Quadras’s campaign for the 2014 European Parliament elections. The organization originally evolved from Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a militant group that emerged in the 1970s to oppose the shah of Iran, later turning against Ayatollah Khomeini after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The MEK has been accused of organizing deadly attacks and was once listed as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and EU – until a lobbying effort led by Vidal-Quadras succeeded in getting it removed from the blacklist.
This bizarre situation prompted Foreign Policy to publish an article by Jannessari and Loucaides in April 2019, summarizing the scandal: “Spain’s Vox Party hates Muslims – except the ones who fund it. The far-right party is unapologetically Islamophobic, yet it would never have survived without financial support from Iranian exiles.”
Lingering doubts surround Vox
The Vox’s murky financial background has sparked serious questions among political observers and the public alike: Why does the Vox rely on financial support from Muslim sources while openly promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric? What are the real motives behind the party’s ties with a banned Iranian organization? Why would the Islamic Republic of Iran go to such lengths to influence Spain’s far-right political scene?
These unanswered questions highlight the opaque and troubling nature of Vox’s origins and funding. Rather than being a nationalist party, the Vox seems more like a foreign-backed political vehicle, undermining its credibility in the eyes of many Spaniards.
Electoral rise and decline
The Vox initially received just 0.23% and 0.20% of the vote in the 2015 and 2016 general elections. However, two major developments helped it rise: the PP’s corruption scandals and the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, in which 92% voted for secession. This inflamed nationalist sentiments across Spain, allowing Vox to gain ground with its hardline rhetoric, reaching nearly 15% in 2019. However, by the 2023 elections, support had declined to around 10%-12%.
In recent years, both Spanish right-wing parties have been plagued by controversial financial activities. While right-wing movements have gained momentum across Europe, Spain’s right has struggled, largely due to its own scandals. These financial irregularities have undermined public confidence, making it difficult for the right to capitalize on Europe’s broader conservative wave.