Montse Lluis has handled Vox’s negotiations with the PP in several regions. Her promotion comes as the party reshapes its Madrid slate after a term marked by senior departures; Juan Sergio Redondo is set for third place.
Vox’s Madrid slate follows the departure of figures who stood alongside Santiago Abascal in 2023. Abascal announced on Monday that deputy secretary-general Montse Lluis would take second place on the party’s list for the 29-N election to the Congress of Deputies. Juan Sergio Redondo, Vox’s leader in Ceuta, is third. The party’s National Executive Committee ratified the candidacies on 19 October. The announced top six were Abascal and Lluis. Redondo and Pepa Millán followed, with Cristian Toro and María Ruiz completing the group.
Lluis’s role in negotiations with the PP gives the appointment added weight. Abascal tasked her with negotiating pacts in Extremadura and Aragón, as well as Castilla y León and Andalucía. Vox entered coalition governments in those regions and introduced its campaign priority, «prioridad nacional». Her work involved negotiating the terms of cooperation and coalition government with the PP. El Independiente described her as a key interlocutor between the parties.
The appointments come amid polling that the report says could point to a coalition government with the PP. Lluis is also described as a key channel of communication between the parties in the autonomous communities, and her standing is viewed positively by PP figures and regional leaders. Her selection for second place, immediately behind Abascal, comes as Vox prepares for a possible national-level negotiation with the PP after the 29 November election. The outcome of the vote remains ahead.
The 2023 list included party founders Iván Espinosa de los Monteros and Javier Ortega Smith. Both later left Bambú: one of his own accord and the other after being expelled. Their departures followed disagreements over what was described as a lack of internal democracy, adding pressure for a new slate.
Lluis joined Vox in 2022 after working as deputy director at ABC. She was part of the team around Juan García-Gallardo, Vox’s first regional vice-president, who left the party in 2024 after it overruled him during the fetal heartbeat controversy. After Vox and the PP formed their first coalition government in Castilla y León, Lluis was appointed director general in the regional administration under García-Gallardo. She has since returned to Madrid and joined the group shaping the party’s daily political strategy. Before entering politics, she held a management role at Vocento, the media group that owns ABC.
Redondo’s selection places Ceuta in a prominent position on the list. He has been the party’s spokesperson in the North African enclave since 2019. He has challenged the leadership of Juan Jesús Vivas and repeatedly called on him to end agreements with regionalist forces. Abascal has also focused his pre-campaign message on what he describes as an invasion of the autonomous city.
María Ruiz, who was number two on the 2023 list and remains a member of Vox’s National Executive Committee, does not feature among the announced candidates. Only Abascal and Pepa Millán, the party’s spokesperson in Congress, are set to repeat from the previous list.
Cristian Maroto is named at the bottom of the slate. Vox’s sports spokesperson since March, he won an Olympic medal in canoeing in 2016. He recently became a councillor in Madrid, replacing Carla Toscano. Toscano left the party and surrendered her seat after being expelled.
Vox has yet to announce the rest of its candidates. Carlos H. Quero, the party’s housing lead, is expected to return to Congress, according to the report, which cites the popularity of his recent speeches against the government’s immigration policies. The deadline for submitting congressional lists is next Monday. The election is scheduled for 29 November 2026.
