from his defeat in Madrid to his distancing in foreign policy

The announcement, made by the party itself in an official press release, places José Antonio Fúster, current national spokesperson, at the head of the Madrid leadership, while Monasterio will focus exclusively on his role as spokesperson for the parliamentary group in the Assembly of Madrid. This change, although surprising in its form, was certainly predictable.

The turning point which marked the beginning of his political decline was the absolute majority obtained by Isabel Diaz Ayuso in regional elections May 2023. This electoral result left Vox with a smaller representation, going from 13 to 10 deputies in the Madrid Assembly. Although this is not a total collapse, it is a clear sign of the loss of popular support for the party in the region.

Therefore, Vox’s political relevance in Madrid has been downplayedand the figure of the monastery began to dissolve. The People’s Party no longer needs to negotiate with its parliamentary group, which relegates it to a simple role of testimony. In his interventions, when it was his turn for parliamentary questions Monastery, The president did not even respond to their arguments. The emptiness was total.

The second big blow has arrived August 2023, when her husband and closest ally, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, decided to leave politics. Espinosa de los Monteros, one of the most prominent leaders of Vox’s liberal wing, was a key player in the balance of power within the party..

His decision to abandon his post as congressional spokesperson was seen as a clear sign that the party was moving toward a more conservative position, leaving behind the more moderate currents that he and Monasterio represented. This departure left Rocío Monasterio without fundamental support within the Vox structure and marks the beginning of its progressive isolation.

But she remained firm and had a strong ally: José Luis Bartolomé. The most conservative wing of the party had got its hands on its lists for the 28-M elections, but had left Bartolomé, much more liberal. In the corridors of the Assembly of Madrid, one could see Monasterio, surrounded by some and far from others. She joked about the “free time” her husband had left, Espinosa de los Monteros, being able to “go out dancing”. But the blow had not yet come.

Excluded from the Executive Committee

However, the loss of political clout was not the only blow for Monasterio. Internally, the situation has also gradually deteriorated.

The third hard blow was his exclusion from the Vox National Executive Committeeannounced during the party’s General Assembly in January 2024. Despite the fact that the national leadership tried to justify its absence with a alleged legal incompatibilityinternal sources quickly denied this version, and the fact that other provincial presidents were part of Vox’s new board of directors made it clear that Monasterio no longer counted in Abascal’s plans.

In addition, Bambú also cited “personal and family reasons” for Monasterio. Something that did not please the still leader of Vox in Madrid.

The process of Monasterio’s marginalization was not sudden, however. Already in January 2023, an attempt to distance him from the provincial leadership was on the verge of success, when several of his closest collaborators were displaced by people linked to the national leadership, which generated deep distrust in the within his team. According to sources close to Monasterio, ““Part of the provincial team betrayed her on several occasions.”. These internal tensions, as well as the continued interference of “Bambú” – the headquarters of Vox – on its management, have made its situation increasingly untenable.

The resignation of Jose Luis Ruiz Bartoloméone of his closest collaborators, dealt a new devastating blow to Monasterio in January 2024. Bartolomé, who had held an important role within the Vox parliamentary group in the Madrid Assembly and whose name appeared second on the party’s electoral list, decided to return to the private sector after four and a half years in politics . His departure left Monasterio without one of his main supporters within the partywhich increased his isolation at a time when he already had few allies within the team.

Distancing with Abascal

Meanwhile, Vox’s national leadership continued its strategy of consolidating a more conservative and less liberal leadership. The departure of Espinosa de los Monteros and the gradual distancing from Monasterio coincided with the rise of figures closer to Abascal, who had been gaining ground for some time. In Madrid, this person had first and last names and was increasingly important in the Madrid Assembly: José Antonio Fuster.

This movement was not only about personalities, but also about an ideological redefinition within the party. Vox, under Abascal’s leadership, opts for a more radical stance on social and cultural issueswhich leaves aside members who, like the Monastery, were considered more moderate or with a “more social and less liberal dose”, as some political observers describe it.

Throughout 2023, The relationship between Rocío Monasterio and Santiago Abascal gradually deteriorated.

Although they worked side by side for years on the development of Vox, internal tensions and the results of the May 2023 elections eventually drove them apart. Abascal concentrated his efforts on other regions, leaving Monasterio increasingly isolated. A clear indication of this cooling was the absence of Abascal during the election night of May 2023, alongside Monasterio.a gesture that was interpreted as a sign that the Madrid leader was no longer a central figure in the plans of the national leader of Vox.

From Vox Madrid they denounced the “abandonment” they suffered during this electoral campaign. Ortega Smith and Monasterio They had to face the storm practically alone and the results were not good, but those close to them assured that the national leadership “did not help either.”

From Meloni to Le Pen

The latest chapter in their distancing has played out on the international stage. Vox decided to leave the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, in which it shared space with parties like Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy.to join the new group “Patriots for Europe”, led by Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen​.

This shift towards a more radical nationalism did not please Monasterio, who had close relations with Meloni and did not share the more extreme and Eurosceptic vision of Le Pen and Orbán. “She needed time to think about foreign policy when this happened,” party sources say. This shift by Vox toward a more aggressive foreign policy stance was the latest step in the process of disconnecting Monasterio from the party leadership.

But there is more. Ivan Espinosa de los Monteros This Tuesday, he had a heated exchange of accusations with MEP Hermann Tertsch over the vote on the law favoring the release of ETA prisoners. Tersch, close to Fuster and the hardest wing of the party, blamed Vox for mistakes during its management in the Congress of Deputies in 2021.

The now departure of Monasterio from the provincial presidency closes a cycle within Vox Madrid, marked by his leadership in the early years of trainingwhen he managed to establish the party in all the municipalities in the region and become a key figure in Madrid politics.