The new political course begins for Ciudadanos as turbulent as the previous one ended, marked by the disappearance in the Andalusian Parliament. This Monday, some thirty elected officials, the majority with responsibilities in Aragón, Asturias and the Valencian Community, have published a manifesto demanding the resignation of the party president, Inés Arrimadas, and the urgent call for a congress extraordinary to renew the orange dome.
Articulated on the new Somos platform, the main signatories of the manifesto are the deputy mayors of Zaragoza and Alicante, Sara Fernández and Maricarmen Sánchez, as well as regional and provincial deputies, who, in very harsh terms, accuse Arrimadas of being "a president detached from reality", that "uses Ciudadanos as a shield to hide its own crisis" and that "does not step on the street".
The initiative proposes the "immediate" resignation of the entire Ciudadanos executive committee and the convening of an extraordinary assembly as soon as possible: "The time has come to give the members a voice and for them to decide what refoundation they want," argues the manifesto, that rejects the process opened by the current leadership and that should culminate in January with the refoundation of the party based on the ideas that are already being debated.
"The problem with Ciudadanos is not the logo, nor the color, nor the affiliates, nor those who resigned from their executive responsibilities almost three years ago. The problem with Ciudadanos is that of the people who run it in recent years, who they put their personal and economic interests before, entrenching themselves in office, the general interest of the party and of Spain", explains the manifesto.
"The strategic errors and the lack of self-criticism, with a flight forward, have been installed in the entire leadership of the party. Neither the continuous loss of electoral support nor the constant flight of members and positions have caused a minimum change on the part of the direction", denounces the manifesto, which questions those who joined the party "in the heat of the polls, coming to a set table and demanding posts and positions", who, in the opinion of the signatories, have become "the most close to Inés Arrimadas".
For its part, the executive, through the spokesperson, Edmundo Bal, has rejected the accusations made by the signatories of the manifesto. "Whoever wants to participate in the refoundation process has all the channels open for their ideas to be heard. This is the path that the party has chosen," Bal defended himself, alluding to the "large number" of messages from members who have expressed their rejection of this initiative, since the refoundation process is already underway and some two thousand affiliates are participating in it.
In this sense, given that some of the signatory positions are in government coalitions with the PP, Bal has ruled out more escapes from Ciudadanos to the party now chaired by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, which, in his opinion, has left aside that "wrong campaign". "Everyone who wanted to leave has left and those of us who are here are precisely to move forward," insisted Bal, who wondered if the signatories' commitment to Ciudadanos remains firm and they are not going to end up joining the PP.
To achieve its objective, Somos, which appeals to the founding spirit of Albert Rivera and charges against the "constant pacts" of Arrimadas with Pedro Sánchez, should gather a third of the signatures of the members of Ciudadanos, which, according to Bal, are about twelve thousand and, according to what is read in the manifesto, barely reach six thousand.
