Who is Spanish far-right leader Santiago Abascal and what does he stand for?

By Aislinn Laing

MADRID (Reuters) -As could be expected of the head of a far-right party that puts nationalism at its core, Vox leader Santiago Abascal drapes himself in Spanish symbols, wearing designer shirts glorifying bullfighting or issuing Vox-branded hand fans to rally attendants.

Giving speeches against backdrops of oil paintings and churches and vowing to return to Spaniards "the things that really matter", Abascal has toured the country in recent weeks to tout his Vox party's nationalist, anti-feminist, Eurosceptic, socially conservative and economically liberal manifesto.

Despite being the youngest of the candidates running for office in the July 23 snap election, the 47-year-old has in nine years turned the splinter party he founded into Spain's third-largest electoral force.

Abascal appeals to "the children of traders, workers, students, doctors, judges, fishermen and farmers" to join to face "the enemies of Spain" as he describes Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's leftist government.

Vox may have doubled its vote in the May local elections but some analysts say it has exhausted its natural pool of voters. Polls suggest its parliamentary seats will wane from 52 in the last election to 35 in the July poll.

However, the frontrunning centre-right People's Party (PP), led by Alberto Nunez Feijoo, is unlikely to secure an outright majority, and may turn to Vox as a kingmaker.

WHAT IS ABASCAL'S BACKGROUND?

Abascal is the third generation of politicians in his family, his father and grandfather having also served in regional or local government.

A sociology graduate from Spain's northern Basque Country, Abascal joined the PP at 18, was elected as a councillor at 23 and became a PP lawmaker in the Basque parliament.

He fell out with the PP in 2013 over its handling of corruption, the ETA militant group and other separatist challenges.

He founded Vox to campaign for abolishing regional autonomy and parliaments, a theme that struck a chord with many after a failed independence bid by Catalonia in 2017.

Those who work with "Santi" describe him as an extrovert and fan of motorbikes and hunting, who likes to crack a joke but is serious about his work.

"He is intense in his debates and rallies because he believes in what he says and that is perceived by everyone who listens to him," a party source said.

He has been married twice, at present to a social media influencer, and has four children.

WHAT ARE VOX'S POLICIES?

Vox says it would lower income tax, crack down on graft, cut public spending, and increase tax breaks for large families.

It proposes the expulsion of illegal migrants and a naval blockade to stop them arriving, and the closure of mosques promoting "radical Islam or jihad", while supporting immigration meeting the needs of Spain's labour market and from nationalities with a shared language or culture.

It has also vowed to repeal progressive laws on transgender rights, abortion and animal rights, along with climate protections promoted by Sanchez, whom Abascal accuses of introducing to Spain "wokism, a pathology that treats adults as minors and children as degenerate adults".

HOW DO SPANIARDS FEEL ABOUT VOX?

Vox secured its first political foothold in December 2018, winning 12 seats in Andalusia's regional parliament.

It won 24 parliamentary seats in a national election in April 2019, and 52 seats in a repeat ballot seven months later.

Political analyst Miguel Angel Murado predicted Vox had hit a ceiling and would lose votes to the PP, remaining "a smaller, really far-right party" and a fixture of Spanish politics for a years ahead.

Ana Pedroza, 56, a nutritionist from Madrid, feels Vox is not extreme but would halt a leftist bloc "that wants to break up the country, with our taxes, our freedoms, our children".

Others, such as flower shop owner Carlos Perez, 47, fear a vote for Vox could take the country back to the days of Francisco Franco's dictatorship: "We would go back to a rural, bad, backward Spain... when a dictator was here giving orders and doing what he pleased."

But Abascal points to the success in office of Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom he says proved the far-right have "neither horns, nor tail nor do we bite".

IS VOX CLOSE TO OTHER EUROPEAN FAR-RIGHT PARTIES?

The far-right governs alone in Hungary and in coalition with the centre-right in Italy and Finland.

A rightwards shift is also expected in June 2024 elections for the European Parliament, with implications for climate policies, social rights or migration.

Abascal has attended and hosted summits with France's Marine Le Pen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy's Meloni, who on July 13 appeared via video link at a rally in Valencia encouraging Vox to have a "a leading and decisive role" in the next government.

(Reporting by Aislinn Laing, additional reporting by Catherine Macdonald; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alex Richardson)