"It was a very sad day." The decision not to run in the general elections in July after the electoral coup in the regional and local elections in May has plunged Ciutadans into melancholy, a feeling that does not dampen the indignation of those who do not share the majority criteria of the leadership, who now believe that the refoundation of the liberal party was actually a "recast"... in the PP.
Tuesday's debate was constructive and mature, according to executive sources, who emphasize that all those who took part expressed their points of view in a reasonable manner and with great responsibility. In the end, the thesis defended by the secretary general, Adrián Vázquez, prevailed, that the "civil war" impulse that will color the campaign does not benefit a formation that aspires to represent the third Spain, and that is why it is better to fold sails and not be definitively left astride in a plebiscitary scenario.
Vázquez, who is a member of the European Parliament, bases the strategy on not needlessly wearing down the party in failed candidacies and to re-arm it by next year's European elections, in which the single state constituency can make it easier for Ciutadans to repeat as the Spanish branch of Renew Europe, together with the formation of the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
By then, "a lot of things will have happened" and an eventual PP government with Vox or the PP alone "will open a hole for reformist progressive liberalism", say sources in the orange dome, while other positions question that human and economic resources are reserved in such a long term: "It was the plan from the beginning, but we believed that they would be ashamed and show their face to the generals after selling the motorbike of the refoundation", they criticize.
"We didn't have hope", retorts another leader, who argues that "for money, it hasn't been", and that the decision obeys a strategic withdrawal to "reflect and come back with better circumstances", so, despite everything, he is optimistic and sees in the European Parliament a "savings table" to cling to before the Catalan regional governments, which will be the "touchstone" of the viability of the project.
Once again, Francisco Igea, Numantí prosecutor in the Courts of Castile and León, and Edmundo Bal, vehement deputy in Congress, have been the discordant voices of the official Ciutadans line, while the parliamentary spokesperson, Inés Arrimadas, considers that not appearing in the generals is the best possible option.
While the former challenge the leadership when they point out its "cowardice", they demand the resignation en bloc and are studying the possibility of creating an alternative electoral platform from the center, around the former president they form a strong chorus: "There is no good decision, and this is the least bad, participating was a quixotic thing", they add.
Beyond the debatable political expediency, the emotional wound is deep and many militants, like Bal himself, will suffer the emotional tear of not being able to choose an orange ballot on July 23: "They have left me an orphan, I have no one to vote for , I will not vote for the PP or the PSOE, I want to vote for a centrist option", he exclaimed yesterday.
