"Your party is reborn" versus "Citizens again". The two candidacies that are disputing for the leadership of Ciudadanos before the next refoundation congress have held their first face-to-face this afternoon in Barcelona, in which Adrián Vázquez and Santiago Saura, who aspire to the general secretariat, have been able to contrast their different proposals to relaunch a party in a critical situation and that will be played for everything in 2023, first in the regional and local elections in May and then in the general ones, scheduled for December.
The MEP, who heads the candidacy closed by Inés Arrimadas together with Patricia Guasp from the Balearic Islands, has proposed a "profound change" that makes Ciudadanos a "more transversal and transparent" party. To do this, he proposes "a 180-degree turn in the next 45 days" that serves to put the organization in readiness for the May elections after a cycle in which, Vázquez has acknowledged, the results have not been good at all. . "Whoever wins, we will all go together", he has promised for after the primaries.
For his part, the Madrid City Councilor, who accompanies Edmundo Bal in the challenge that the deputy spokesman in Congress has launched to his leader, has highlighted the democratic normality that transmits a debate between various proposals such as the one has been held in Barcelona and has also underlined its will to unite for the day after the assembly. "Participation and plurality" have been the two words with which Saura has summarized his proposal for the organization, highlighting the importance of holding primaries for the most important positions.
Regarding the organic and ideological proposals, Vázquez has proposed a "transformation" of Ciudadanos to turn it into a "political tool" that in the next regional and local elections in May will be able to recover the trust of the voters, for which he has set that challenge as "a true Rubicon" for the formation chaired by Inés Arrimadas, after which she hopes that the headlines will highlight that "Ciudadanos resiste" as the first step for their survival. "We risked our lives in May", exclaimed the MEP.
Saura has underlined the loss of affiliates and has opted for a powerful revulsion. "Continuity is not an option," he stated in this regard, and questioned that Vázquez's proposals "do not sound like an exercise in renewal" like the one the party should have, in his opinion, at this time. "We do not want a vehicle for ideological purists, but one that vindicates the entire original space of Ciudadanos, from the center, liberal, progressive and reformist," argued the Madrid councilor, who is committed to opening Ciudadanos to disillusioned center-left voters of the PSOE.
Vázquez has vindicated the work of the re-foundation team, which has toured Spain in recent months to collect the contribution of the militants. "With all the talent we have, we will once again excite the Spanish people," promised the MEP, who stressed that the ideas put forward by Ciudadanos come from the demands that he gathers from his contacts with society, such as the pension reform.
Saura has influenced the municipalism of his candidacy and has proposed that the pacts be adapted to each particular circumstance in each locality and each autonomous community. "We have narrowed the ideological space we had and now a large part of the electorate does not recognize us. They do not see us as an option. The PSOE loses 600,000 votes, according to the polls, and they go to the PP instead of Ciudadanos. How Are we not capable of attracting those voters?" he asked himself.
In his final golden minute, Vázquez has said that the primaries are "the beginning of everything" and has summoned them to "work" towards May, while he has extended his hand to the other candidacies and has asked them to flee from the "personalisms". "We talked about teams and proposals to turn the game around and be decisive again, because we do have a plan", he concluded.
For his part, Saura has underlined the "historic and difficult" moment that Ciudadanos is experiencing, which today occupies an electoral space that is "indistinguishable" from others, in his opinion. "But conforming is not an option, we offer a candidacy free of guardianships and dependencies other than the affiliates themselves, with a real commitment to the participation of the militancy," he announced.
A third candidacy, "The base of change", headed by Laura Alves, has also had a presence in the debate, although her options, after having obtained barely a hundred and a half endorsements, are very limited. "We have lost 65% of our affiliates since 2020 and thousands and thousands of voters," recalled Alves, who has urged a choice between continuity, which in his opinion the other two candidacies represent equally, and "a project that look to the future."
