Influencer
Influencer And Former Lib Dem Shakes Up Spanish Politics With Shocking 4.6% Of Vote For EU Seat
A seasoned influencer and former member of the UK’s Liberal Democrat party has unexpectedly won three seats in the European Parliament representing Spain. Alvise Pérez, a 34-year-old online activist with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, leads a new political party called The Party is Over, The Telegraph reports.
Despite having no formal structure, manifesto, or published policies, the party received 4.6% of the national vote in Sunday’s European elections in Spain. Pérez campaigned on a populist platform of ending corruption among Spanish and European political elites, similar to Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
Pérez has been involved in multiple lawsuits about his controversial exposés and conspiracy theories about mainstream politicians. In 2023, he was convicted of defaming a former mayor of Madrid by falsely claiming she received special healthcare during the pandemic.
Originally from Seville, Pérez studied political science and had activist roles with centrist parties like Ciudadanos, which lost all eight European Parliament seats in this election. He was briefly a member of the Liberal Democrat youth wing while living in Leeds.
The conservative People’s Party won the election with 34% vote, followed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party at 30%. Polling suggests The Party is Over’s base consists largely of young men, some previous supporters of the far-right Vox party.
As The Telegraph reports, Pérez mentioned potential policies like cracking down on corruption and illegal immigration and supporting a referendum on Spain’s EU membership. However, concrete details of his party’s platform remain unclear. He stated he does not wish to live in Brussels full-time, describing Belgium as “a failed state.”