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Polisario leader Brahim Ghali, in an interview with the Spanish daily ABC, adopted rhetoric echoing arguments frequently advanced by Spain's right and far right regarding Morocco.
Ghali claimed that Madrid is «probably underestimating» Morocco's growing regional influence and warned of what he sees as the implications for Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla should the Sahara issue ultimately be resolved in Rabat's favor.
«Moroccan expansionist ambitions appear to know no limits. Morocco's neighbors have been victims of this policy. Mauritania, Algeria, Western Sahara and Spain are all testing grounds for Moroccan expansionism», he said.
Vox and the PP gain ground in Spain
His remarks come at a time when anti-Morocco narratives, particularly those promoted by the far-right Vox party, are gaining visibility in Spanish politics. This trend has been reflected in the formation of coalition governments between Vox and the People's Party (PP) in several autonomous communities, including Castile and León, Extremadura and Aragon. Andalusia could follow the same path in the coming weeks.
Against this backdrop, the prospect of the right returning to power after the next general election is increasingly viewed as credible, while Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's PSOE continues to grapple with a series of corruption scandals. The latest controversy involves jewelry belonging to former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, reportedly found in his office at PSOE headquarters in Madrid during a Civil Guard search.
This is not the first time Ghali has used a conservative Spanish media outlet to send messages to Spain's right-wing political parties. He adopted a similar approach during an interview with Telecinco in May 2022.
The Polisario has regularly raised the issue of Morocco's claims to Ceuta and Melilla in an effort to draw the attention of parts of Spain's political class to its position. In May 2021, at the height of the diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid triggered by the circumstances surrounding Ghali's hospitalization in Spain a month earlier, the Front's representative warned against growing ties between the People's Party, then led by Pablo Casado, and Nizar Baraka's Istiqlal Party.
«This Moroccan party continues to state in its resolutions that the kingdom's territorial integrity will remain incomplete without the recovery of occupied Moroccan territories, including Ceuta and Melilla», he said at the time.
