The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) has condemned the nomination of Fernando Paz as a far-right congressional candidate for his views on the Holocaust.

Mr Paz, a historian, has become the Vox party’s top congressional candidate for the region of Albacete. He has written books questioning the legitimacy and impartiality of the Nuremberg trials and the neutrality of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the Second World War.

“He has called the Nuremberg trials a farce and he has questioned the mass murder of six million Jews,” the FCJE, the official representative body of the Spanish Jewish community, said in a statement.

“He has clearly stated his suspicions that the Jews did not die in gas chambers, but instead at the hands of Eastern European residents, and has denied the racist origins of the Holocaust.”

Vox is predicted to win its first national seats in Spain’s national elections at the end of April.

It first emerged in Andalusia last December, when it won 12 seats in the regional parliament and becoming the first far-right party to enter mainstream Spanish politics since Franco’s death. 

“It is deeply troubling that anyone who has expressed such views should be able to run for public office in any European country,” the FCJE statement added.

Mr Paz, however, used his Twitter account to denounce his portrayal as an antisemite, saying he will lodge complaints against media outlets who have called him a Holocaust denier.

He has also been previously embroiled in controversy for his comments on women, the Spanish Civil War and homosexuality.

A Eurobarometer poll published in January suggests that 66 per cent of Spaniards do not believe that Holocaust denial is a problem, compared with a EU average of 38 per cent.