2023. November 9 – 20:26
Photography: Oscar del Pozo/AFP
Alejo Vidal Cuadras, the former Catalan president of the conservative Spanish People’s Party, who was also one of the founders of the far-right Vox party, was shot in the face in an open street in Madrid.
According to The Guardian newspaper Paramedics confirmed that a 78-year-old man was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound, the bullet tore off his jaw. According to El Pais newspaper, the man’s condition is stable. The Spanish newspaper wrote, citing the investigation, that Vidal Cuadras was attacked by two men who arrived on a motorcycle. They were wearing bulletproof helmets, and one of them shot the former politician, then moved away from the scene.
Vidal Cuadras was a member of the Catalan regional parliament between 1988 and 1996, and for five years was president of the local party organization of the People’s Party. At the end of the nineties, he represented the region in the Senate for three years, then he was a representative of the European Parliament and vice-president for fifteen years between the years 2004-2007.
Acting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wished Vidal Cuadras a speedy recovery.
It was announced on Thursday that the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) had reached an agreement with the independence party Junts per Catalunya to elect Sánchez as prime minister. In addition to the 121 representatives of his party, Sánchez needs an additional 55 votes to become prime minister again. All that is missing is the cooperation of the Basque Nationalist Party. According to legal deadlines, Parliament must vote to choose a new prime minister by November 27, otherwise new elections must be held in Spain in mid-January.