Llanos Massó (57) was elected with 53 votes in favour, 40 of which came from PP MPs in the regional chamber and 13 from VOX.

The agreement between the PP and VOX is the first tangible one between the parties after the regional and municipal elections of 28 May and the crushing defeat of the progressive camp, in particular of the two parties that form the current coalition government; Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s socialist party (PSOE/S&D) and Unidas Podemos (EU Left).

Massó’s election marks the first step in the government pact reached between the PP and VOX, whereby the far-right party will lead the Valencian parliament, and, subsequently, Carlos Mazón (PP) will preside over the government of the Valencian region in a regional executive in which VOX will hold three important portfolios.

Also read: Meet far-right party VOX’s ‘patriotic’ vision for Spain

As VOX’s parliamentary spokesperson on education and economic issues, Massó has stood out in the last legislature for being “hawkish” on women’s rights issues, El País reported.

In the last four years, the VOX deputy has fiercely criticised what she has called “political indoctrination” in the classroom, the “linguistic dictatorship” (in favour of the Valencian language to the detriment of Castilian, although both are official languages) and the Spanish system of regional autonomies, due to its “gigantic costs”.

Massó is since Monday, the 11th Spanish politician to preside over the regional parliament of Valencia known as “Les Corts” since 1983.

She is also the first of the far-right party to achieve this prestigious political post in the Valencian Community, with almost five million inhabitants, and one of the most prosperous in Spain, along with the Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia.

Staunch anti-abortion activist

Massó is a controversial figure in Spanish politics, particularly for her repeated criticism of schools for defining abortion “as just another method of contraception”. She has also criticised the system for not allowing parents to decide on gender education and for schools being used as “instruments of separatism and feminism.”

Among her more populist proposals, she has advocated to have the Spanish national flag fly on school buildings. She also suggests that more parental controls are installed when children watch content online or on TV.

She also harshly criticised feminism and the “excessive tutelage of laws over women’s lives”, refused to support feminist movements, and criticised the fact that public money is given to “countless organisations (NGOs) that live off gender violence”.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)