The decision of the leadership of Ciutadans not to stand in the general elections of July 23 after the regional and municipal elections of May 28 caused a deep sense of orphanhood in the militancy. While some officials reacted with indignation and confronted the leadership, others obeyed the executive’s opinion and plunged into melancholy.
But without the possibility of voting for their party, what did they do on 23-J? Many voted blank, but some, like the councilor in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda Kevin Romero, admit that they did not resist the temptation to insert the Ciutadans symbol (a heart with the flags of Europe, Spain and Catalonia inland), knowing that the vote would be void.
None of those consulted, in any case, admits to having voted for the PP, the party where many of those who left Ciutadans ended up when the times of lean cows arrived and with which the formation had agreed coalition governments in the days happy, and those who voted for the Socialists, on the other hand, admit it, such as the councilor in Santa Coloma de Gramenet Salva Tovar, who is part of Núria Parlon’s municipal government: “I did it to stop a possible collapse of the “left and to avoid a government with Vox”.
The general secretary, Adrián Vázquez, pointed out by some as being responsible for the traumatic resignation in order to reserve the dwindling resources of the party for the candidacy for the 2024 European Championships and to be able to continue in Brussels, does not reveal what he did: “The vote is secret”.
Retired from politics, her predecessor at the head of the party, Inés Arrimadas, politely refuses to participate in the report, while some of the last public representatives Ciutadans has had or still retains have taken refuge in silence and have not responded.
Less reserved is the political spokesperson, Patricia Guasp, Vázquez’s electoral ticket in the failed refoundation assembly in January. He abstained. “I didn’t vote and I say it proudly”, she explains, and appeals to the newspaper library to remember that “the greatest virtue of a politician is his consistency and respect for his principles”. In his case, “a project that guarantees equal opportunities, individual freedoms and the progress of society” that he does not see in any other party aside from Ciutadans.
Edmundo Bal, enfant terrible of the liberal family after challenging Arrimadas and his successors, on the other hand, did go to vote, but he did so blankly, because no party – “let alone the PSOE or the PP”, emphasizes – represents him. “I came to politics to show that it could be done in another way. That’s why Ciutadans exists, and its leaders have betrayed the founding spirit”, regrets the congressional spokesperson, who accuses the management, which filed it, of “insinuating” to their electorate that they should vote for the PP “repeal Sanchism” and “all this nonsense”, when “a centrist formation must flee from the blocs”.
Begoña Villacís refers to the message he posted on the networks on 23-J, in which he advised liberals to go vote as usual despite not having “their own ballot”. The one who was vice-mayor of Madrid with the popular José Luis Martínez-Almeida asked to exercise a “critical and reasoned” vote to “tip the balance towards a centered option”. And this, in view of his career, can be interpreted as support for the PP candidate: “I respect the blank vote and abstention, but I will continue to defend the useful vote against the extremes of nationalism and populism”. he wrote.
From Catalonia, Carlos Carrizosa does not want it to be known whether he voted blank or null. “I went to the electoral college and cast my vote, but I didn’t vote for any party: none of the political projects presented on 23-J represented me”, argues the leader of Citizens in Parliament.
His seatmates, except Noemí de la Calle, who abstained, and Marina Bravo, who voted null and leaves in the air what she put in the envelope (another heart?), decided to vote in blanc: “Voting one block or another only served to continue polarizing national politics”, says deputy Joan García. “The PSOE, with its pacts with separatism and its confederal vision of Spain, is not an option for me, and the PP is the same as always: a fickle party, anchored in practices alien to democracy like the transfuguism”, adds Matías Alonso.
For her part, Anna Grau criticizes the decision, although she complied with it, not to stand in the elections and without wanting to reveal the meaning of her vote she does give some clues based on the “contempt” and the ” maneuvers” of the PP, which made it “very difficult” to give him their “trust”: “The result of these elections is a parody of the useful vote, you must vote without getting entangled by the polls who you want to govern you . There are many people who voted without enthusiasm and then found themselves in a puzzling situation due to the abuse of the useful vote of the PP, which, because it takes it to the extreme, has lost more than it has won in Catalonia”. concludes the parliamentary spokeswoman.
