On June 13, an email summoned the media to an urgent appearance by the President of the Balearic Parliament in half an hour. Many attendees thought that Gabriel Le Senne of Vox would explain a new chapter in the internal battle that the seven ultra-party MPs in the regional chamber have been waging for a year. However, Le Senne had canceled his morning agenda to express his displeasure with the PP’s decision to support the raising of the LGBT flag on the building facade during Pride week. He did not hold back in his attacks on the community, stating that the flag did not represent all homosexuals but rather a lobby and was a divisive symbol. This incident was not Le Senne’s first controversy; two years earlier, he had expressed similar sentiments on social media.
The Balearic Parliament President sparked a new controversy this week by tearing down a photo of the unionist Aurora Picornell, who was executed in the civil war, from the laptop of the Second Vice President of the Chamber, PSIB-PSOE MP Mercedes Garrido. Le Senne then expelled Garrido and her fellow socialist MP Pilar Costa from the chamber for refusing to remove the photos of the executed from the civil war. Despite calls for his resignation from left-wing groups, the PP, who governs with Vox’s support, labelled the incident as “unfortunate” and defended Le Senne, accusing the two socialist MPs of lacking neutrality in the chamber.
Gabriel Le Senne, born in Palma in 1977 and educated in Law and Business Administration, was a lawyer in the Balearic capital before entering politics. He identifies as a liberal and Catholic, and his background in ultra-right politics, as the founder of the Libertarian Party in Balearic, was evident from his writings and social media posts that opposed feminism, abortion rights, euthanasia, and the LGBT community. He also made controversial statements doubting climate change, casting doubt on the pandemic, and questioning vaccines. Le Senne’s past public praise of Francoism in 2020 has raised concerns about his ideology and beliefs.
Much of Le Senne’s posts align with conspiratorial thinking, filled with falsehoods and misinformation. His appointment has brought scrutiny to an opinion article supporting the far-right conspiracy theory of the Great Replacement, suggesting that Europeans are at risk of extinction due to migration patterns. In recent months, Le Senne has been embroiled in internal party disputes over control of the parliamentary group. In January, a rebellion within the party led to the expulsion of Le Senne and the party president in the islands, Patricia de las Heras, from the group. Despite the turmoil, Le Senne remains loyal to Santiago Abascal, but conflicts within the party continue to escalate.
As Le Senne navigates turbulent waters within his party, recent clashes have seen a reduction in the rebellious faction within Vox. Despite efforts to control the group, Le Senne and his colleagues have faced challenges, including disagreements over the creation of an association. The President of the Balearic Islands took two days to reprimand Le Senne for his behavior in the chamber, emphasizing the importance of respect, especially when discussing victims of violence. Additionally, Le Senne supported an initiative to repeal the Balearic Islands’ Law of Memory and Democratic Reparation, a law that his own party had helped to promote.
