Arrimadas will appear in the Ciudadanos primaries if Bal does not renounce his candidacy

The battle for the story has broken out in Ciudadanos.

On the one hand, the president of Cs, Inés Arrimadas, who announced this Monday that she will face Edmundo Bal in primaries to lead the party if the spokesperson does not withdraw her candidacy and they reach an agreement to present a list of unity.

Either they go together, or they will compete with each other.

“Only in the event that Edmundo does not reconsider, I will present my list

I will continue working on a unity candidacy.

I don't want to turn this process into a media spectacle.

I don't want to go to a pitched battle," Arrimadas said at a press conference at the headquarters.

The leader has described the spokesperson on several occasions as a "partner" and "right hand", in an ironic criticism of Bal's move, whom sources around Arrimadas accuse of "treason" and "disloyalty".

On the other side, the Cs spokesman maintains his aspirations, also in a "unity" candidacy that "helps to recover the illusion."

"We have to sit down and, if she wants, I would love for her to come on my list," Bal said Saturday in statements to the media in Congress.

The president explained this Monday that Bal was fully "aware" that both she and other party members had been working on this "unity candidacy" for a long time.

For this reason, management sources say, on Friday "she did not believe" when the spokesperson decided to act on her behalf, despite the fact that it was an open secret within the parliamentary group.

"What our candidates need is a united party," the leader declared before the media.

In the event that Bal decided to accept Arrimadas' order and gave his arm to twist for a "more choral" joint candidacy with "new faces", the president has left the door open to not head that list, but to "close" it. , without specifying what it refers to specifically.

A hypothesis in which Arrimadas would lose all power in pursuit of a “less Caesarist” party, as the militants have demanded during the refoundation process that began in July.

The spokesman responded shortly after via Twitter.

“My colleague Inés Arrimadas agrees with my proposal: a unity candidacy that includes what the affiliates have expressed in the Refoundation.

That is why I presented a candidacy three days ago to help recover the illusion and of which I want her to be a part ”, Bal wrote about her offer.

In the leader's team they consider that “it is a tweet that answers itself;

a take off you to put me on ”.

Both leaders have held a meeting of around an hour, on the afternoon of this Monday and in Congress, "at the request of Arrimadas" as a "first step" to agree on a way out of the crisis, say management sources.

Arrimadas has assured, in the face of Bal's accusations in the media since Friday, that the differences between the two are due to "discrepancies in very important laws", such as the

law or the

.

Although the vote on the law for the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, for example, took place months ago and in which Bal was in favor of yes.

Regarding the problems that the norm has generated, the spokesperson responded in an interview in EL PAÍS on Saturday: “There are people who self-interestedly tell the media about it.

It is ridiculous to blame me, it is a collective decision ”, and he reiterated that his problems with Arrimadas arose a month ago due to the bicephaly model proposed by those close to the president.

A formula with which he intended to perpetuate himself as a political leader until the primaries to choose a candidate for the Presidency of the Government, already in the second semester of 2023.

Since Bal appeared before the media, on Friday morning, to advance that he will attend the internal election process scheduled for January 9 and 10, several deputies have been showing their express support for his candidacy on social networks.

Specifically, all the members of the parliamentary group —María Carmen Martínez, José Ignacio López-Bas, Sara Giménez, Miguel Gutiérrez and María Muñoz—, with the exception of Guillermo Díaz, the only one faithful to the president.

"I hope that this situation is corrected with the unity candidacy," Arrimadas continued about the differences in the group.

The president's side – made up of other members of the executive such as Félix Álvarez and Fernando Giner – intends to undermine Bal's credibility by conveying the idea that the spokesperson acted behind his back.

While,

More information

Edmundo Bal appears in the primaries to lead Ciudadanos after the break with Inés Arrimadas

In the midst of the crisis, the Popular Party rubs its hands.

At practically the same time that Arrimadas appeared before the media, the national coordinator of the PP, Elías Bendodo, did the same in Genoa, where he reiterated his predisposition to absorb the main figures of the orange formation: "The PP is a open house party to enter and to leave.

Therefore, the talent of Cs has the open doors of the PP as it is taking place in many territories”.

"Tired of waiting"

Arrimadas and Bal had not spoken in private all weekend.

They only kept one call on Friday morning, when the spokesman told the president that she was going to appear to announce that she was running.

She requested a prior meeting.

He declined the invitation, "tired of waiting."

A few hours later, at night, they met at the Ciudadanos Madrid Christmas dinner, together with the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís.

On Saturday, in this newspaper, the spokesman expressly demanded the president to "step aside" and "do not appear in the primaries."

In reference to the accusations that the spokesperson has been launching in the media, the president has been upset and has stressed that, as far as she is concerned, she will not give interviews.

The leaders will meet again, this Tuesday and in public, in the Lower House, during the commemorative acts for the anniversary of the Constitution;

with two competing proposals and a broken relationship, immersed in a deep internal war that is the final straw for a drifting formation.