The matador and the moderate: Andalusia’s president courts far right in the bullring

Conservative Juanma Moreno is keen to win over ultranationalist bullfighting aficionados ahead of the May 17 election in Spain’s largest region.

By GUY HEDGECOE
in Madrid

^{Illustration by Natália Delgado/ POLITICO}

Andalusia’s upcoming regional election is being fought out in the most stereotypical of Spanish settings: the bullring.

Incumbent regional president Juanma Moreno, a conservative moderate, is keen to retain control of the country’s largest region, but polls suggest his center-right People’s Party (PP) may fall just short of a governing majority if the far right Vox party performs well in the May 17 vote.

To stave off that possibility, Moreno is appealing to far right voters — many of whom are hardcore bullfighting fans. At the center of his charm offensive is José Antonio Morante Camacho, better known as Morante de la Puebla, a 46-year-old widely regarded as Spain’s best matador — and a fervent Vox supporter.

Moreno’s efforts to win over Morante were on full display last month, when the bullfighter was gored by Clandestino, a half-ton bull whose horn pierced the matador’s buttock in front of a shocked crowd at Seville’s La Maestranza bullring.

The Andalusia-born Morante described the injury, which left him with a perforated rectum, as “the most painful goring I have ever suffered.”

While he recovered in hospital, Moreno telephoned the matador to inquire about his injuries — and then swiftly shared details of the call with the press. “He seemed to me to be quite strong, in good shape and looking forward to a swift recovery,” the regional president said on Antena 3.

Bullish courtship

Moreno’s eagerness to publicize the call reflects Morante’s unexpected relevance in the upcoming vote.

Data shows bullfighting to be more popular with Spain’s right-wing voters than those on the left. Within the right, los toros are especially popular among Vox supporters: according to Sigma Dos polling, 38 percent of the far-right party’s voters consider themselves bullfighting fans, compared with 31 percent of PP voters and just 10 percent of socialist voters. 

And bullfighters have become prominent figures within Vox. Serafín Marín, a well-known bullfighter, was one of the ultranationalist party’s candidates in Spain’s 2019 general election. In Valencia, retired matador Vicente Barrera became one of the region’s vice-presidents when the far right group entered into a coalition government with the PP in 2023.

While never occupying a formal role within Vox, Morante has stood out as one of the far right group’s highest-profile supporters. He’s described it as “a party that represents me and says what I think and feel,” and even forged a warm friendship with the far-right party’s leader, Santiago Abascal. Last October, the matador even seemed to dedicate what was widely considered to be his valedictory bullfight to the ultranationalist leader.

But Morante has also shown himself to have a soft spot for Moreno. Last year he gifted the regional president a golden traje de luces — the costume matadors wear in the bullring — to thank him for his steadfast support of bullfighting in Andalusia.

And Moreno has worked hard to encourage that affection by flattering Morante with grand gestures. In February, the regional president honored the bullfighter with the prestigious Andalusian Medal for Culture and Heritage, hailing him as “a legend and promoter of our traditions.”

Last month, Moreno accompanied Morante on a tour of the renowned Zahariche bull farm near Seville. In a video posted on social media shortly after the visit, the regional president can be seen hugging the matador and peppering him with questions about his career.

Moderate playbook

Moreno’s charm offensive has not gone unnoticed. Conservative newspaper ABC recently noted the Andalusian president was “seeking to secure the vote most closely identified with rural tradition at a time when the [PP’s] absolute majority is on the line.”

While other members of his party, like Madrid’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso, have played to far-right voters by adopting hardline positions against unaccompanied minors, the Andalusian president has refused to stray from his moderate conservatism, and is instead attempting to win over ultranationalists by appealing to their love of “tradition.”

Paco Camas, head of public opinion in Spain for the Ipsos polling agency, said that although bullfighting is not a mainstream pastime, in Andalusia it has more of a following than in most other areas, with fans tending to be right-leaning males.

 “[Moreno] is fighting on those issues that he knows might be important for voters on the right and center right, especially issues that are associated with Vox,” he said. “He wants to compete for that flag, for that cultural identity and not let Vox have it all to itself.”

It remains to be seen whether Moreno’s efforts to shift the matador’s loyalty from Vox to the PP will secure him the desired electoral results. But Camas said doing so would be a major victory for the regional president, who described the PP’s current control of the regional parliament as “a very unusual case in Spain today, where absolute majorities seem to be a thing of the past.”

“If the PP lost [its majority] that would be the only positive for the Socialists and the parties on the left,” he added.

The elections in Andalusia follow recent regional votes in Extremadura, Aragón and Castilla y León. While the conservatives won each contest, they consistently fell short of securing governing majorities, and have been obliged to take on arduous negotiations with Vox.

Addressing Moreno and party supporters at a campaign event in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, PP national leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo attempted to temper expectations by warning “absolute majorities are very difficult, I know, so it it’s best not even to say [the words].”

If Moreno manages to pull off the feat of governing alone again, his status as a rising star within the PP will be consolidated. Moreover, his matador strategy may well be emulated by other conservative politicians who are keen to win over far-right voters without alienating centrists.