By madmin 
As Europe prepares for a critical election year, Spain’s far-right party Vox is gaining ground in the political scene, utilizing the increasing dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and the anxiety about immigration. Polls of late have shown that Vox is a very likely party to win significant marks in the European Parliament elections to be held next year which is an indication of a more general fact that the populist sentiment is gaining ground throughout the continent.
Vox’s rule comes at a time when far-right parties all over Europe are on the rise. The group’s front-runner, Santiago Abascal, has been constantly engaged in the breeding of nationalist-conservative parties, such as the likes of Italy’s Matteo Salvini and France’s Marine Le Pen, which sees Vox as a part of the broader European movement that is challenging the traditional political order.
The slogan of the party, about national sovereignty, traditional moral values, and strict immigration controls, has been identified as a cause for a considerable part of the Spanish citizens. Vox has by far managed to exploit the concerns over regional separatism, particularly in Catalonia, and make a stand for the unity and cultural identity of the Spanish people.
Those who disagree with Vox’s domination claim that it is a perilous drift toward extremism in Spanish politics. They illustrate the party’s controversial positions on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, and climate change as proof of why they are stuck in a social process of no progress and the undermining of democratic values.
On the other hand, those who are in favor of Vox base their argument on the fact that this party gives a remedy to the left-wing overzealous policies and the centrist governments’ problems to deal with the most important national issues. They insist that Vox is the true voice of the majority of Spaniards who, due to globalization and social changes, find themselves in a minority.
Impact of the increasing influence of the party on the Spanish political scene can be observed, as right-wing parties are now compelled to take harder positions on specific topics like the migration issue and the question of regional autonomy in order to avoid losing support to Vox. This development to the right has, most likely, caused the political discourse to become more polarized and thus fostered the emergence of widespread fears of the decay of the consensus on the basic fundamentals of democracy.
Vox is facing difficulties in making use of its popularity in governance due to the lack of experience that comes with power. The lack of power experience and, in fact, some of its more radical policy proposals are causing observers to question whether it is capable of realizing a concrete political project.
Nonetheless, the emergence of Vox mirrors the developments in European politics, in which mainstream party systems have undergoing the shift due to the populism from both the right and left. The upcoming European elections will represent a turning point, showing to what extent these forces will be able to change the whole European political system both, nationally and at the EU level.
Vox, along with other far-right parties, reaching high positions might have a great impact on EU decision-making processes either by suiting the balance of power within the European institutions in favor of such parties or by influencing the scope of the debates over issues such as migration, economic policy, and European integration’s future.
Spain is on a verge of an election with the country being at a crossroad. The choices that Spanish voters will make not only will shape the years to come for their country but will also be of great significance for the direction of European politics in the time when the polarisation is increasing and the uncertainty prevails.
Vox, in the next few months, will decide its fate as it will either become stable and expand towards new groups or fall apart. The way the party takes to address more tough examination and the duties related to the increased political influence will determine its ability and strength as a prominent party in Spanish and European politics.
Already, the rise of VOX has become the headline of the political transformation in Spain that encompasses the whole of Europe. The mainstay political parties, with the arrival of new challenges and voters’ lack of faith, can’t really manage to cope up and retreat against the background of the populist option, which is soaring and is redrawing the political map in the ways that were not visual even a short time ago.