The internal conflict within Vox in Madrid escalated this Saturday, March 14, 2026, with the expulsion of Ignacio Ansaldo, a councilor, party founder, and holder of membership card number one. His expulsion adds tension to a sequence that already compromises the cohesion of the Madrid municipal group and threatens to project onto the rest of the party structure. Close to Javier Ortega Smith and aligned with the sector resisting the reconfiguration driven by the national leadership, Ansaldo confirmed his exit with a brief but eloquent message on social networks: “Today they kicked me out of my party.” The leadership of Vox seeks to show order and discipline. Just a few days earlier, Ortega Smith himself had been provisionally suspended for refusing to comply with the resolution of the National Executive Committee (CEN) that ordered his removal as municipal spokesperson in Madrid. In public statements, he denounced that the leadership demanded he “commit hara-kiri” by resigning as municipal spokesperson, as if he had committed an offense that, in his view, never existed. He also expressed disappointment, stating that he would exhaust internal channels, although he distrusts the outcome because he believes the bodies that should review his case act as judge and party. The conflict, far from dying down, seems to be deepening. Each new sanction, each new break, and each new public expose also reveal another face: a party riddled with purges, suspicions, and an internal struggle that has already left difficult-to-heal wounds. In practice, the signal inward to the party is clear: there will be no room for organized dissent, much less if it is expressed in a as visible a sphere as the Madrid City Council. Meanwhile, Ortega Smith decided to judicialize and politicize his fight. Ansaldo’s expulsion adds more tension to a sequence that already compromises the cohesion of the group in Madrid and threatens to project onto the rest of the party structure. The phrase, full of disappointment, finally exhibited the depth of a fracture that had ceased to be a disciplinary conflict to become an open political crisis within the space led by Santiago Abascal. The expulsion of Ansaldo does not come in isolation. The decision was later hardened: on March 6, the Guarantees Committee resolved his final expulsion for a “very serious infraction,” considering that he had prevented the execution of the change of spokesperson. With this move, the national leadership designated Arantxa Cabello as the new spokesperson and reorganized a municipal group of only five members, where the division has since been completely exposed. From the other side, Ansaldo and Toscano remained, showing political and personal loyalty towards Ortega Smith. He filed a complaint with the Spanish Agency for Data Protection against the CEN and the Guarantees Committee, maintaining that there was a leak that violated the confidentiality of the disciplinary file. That a figure of such importance ends up expelled in the middle of a confrontation with the leadership marks how far Abascal’s leadership is willing to close ranks, even at the cost of breaking with names who were there from the very beginning of the project. This is not a peripheral leader or a newcomer. His status as a founder and holder of membership card number one makes him a figure of strong symbolic value within the Vox universe.
