There have been no surprises: Patricia Guasp and Adrián Vázquez will be the new leaders of Ciudadanos.

The Cs coordinator in the Balearic Islands and the head of the parliamentary group in Brussels have prevailed over the other two candidacies in the party's primaries, held between this Wednesday and this Thursday, and will now serve as political spokesperson and general secretary, respectively.

His list has received 53.25% of the support, while that of Edmundo Bal has aroused 39.34%, and that of the hitherto unknown Marcos Morales, 7.41%.

The candidacy of Guasp and Vázquez,

, was also the one supported by the outgoing president, Inés Arrimadas, who closed the list in last place.

So the contest leaves the parliamentary spokesman touched, who headed the other electoral ticket with possibilities to win.

His defeat, by 14%, is the culmination of the internal war carried out by the first two swords of the formation.

A struggle that exploded in mid-October, and which has led to a bitter campaign, with a party broken by harsh accusations between the leaders and the distribution of forces between the different sides.

The electronic polls for the primaries have closed at 6:00 p.m. this Thursday.

Shortly after, the party announced the results of an internal election process in which 7,642 Cs affiliates were called to participate, but only half did, 49.65%, about 3,700.

The victory of Guasp and Vázquez was the most predictable scenario taking into account the number of endorsements previously collected —1,367, twice as many signatures as Bal.

His candidacy has also been branded by his opponents as "official" as he enjoys the support of Arrimadas.

The majority of the regional coordinators were also on his side, except for the attorney Francisco Igea.

Both Guasp and Vázquez had focused the campaign message on their ability to renew the party with “new faces”, as a remedy for the party's deep crisis.

which has taken them through the different territories in meetings with the bases.

According to the result of these primaries, Arrimadas will continue to be the spokesperson in Congress, since both Guasp and Vázquez agree that he should continue as the party's leading voice in the lower house.

On the contrary, she loses her position as president and stops holding both the political representation and the organic power of Cs, which Guasp and Vázquez assume, respectively.

But this vote does not imply that Guasp is automatically the candidate for the next general elections, scheduled for the end of the year.

Since the party will hold a second primary, around July, so that the affiliates decide who will be the Ciudadanos candidate for the Presidency of the Government.

Arrimadas welcomed the success of Guasp's candidacy and called for "everyone to work together" before the upcoming regional and municipal elections on May 28.

"This is how our militancy wanted it after an exemplary re-foundation," he assured.

After the announcement of the results, Guasp has appeared before the media, with a speech in which he has claimed his leadership against the role that Arrimadas can play from now on.

"From now on I am going to be the leader of the party", stressed the winner, for whom the objective is to mark a "road map that will re-illusion" the affiliates who have not voted for her and the Spanish in general.

On the possible integration of the losers, she has been open to talk: “The mood is that of dialogue;

we want to add”.

Yes indeed,

Patricia Guasp and Adrián Vázquez, together with their team before the end of campaign event, on Tuesday in Madrid.Gustavo Valiente (Europa Press)

For his part, Bal, who has attended the press in the first place, has stressed that he will work so that the voice of those who have supported him is heard within the organization.

In this sense, the spokesman has valued the votes of the 1,943 militants who, together with those of Morales, imply that there is a "broad" volume of affiliates who "demand a change of direction" in the party, according to the opinion of he.

Despite the discrepancies, he has launched a message of integration: "I am going to help Inés Arrimadas throughout the campaign."

Guasp replied, later, that his victory is "unappealable".

Some twenty supporters have received the leaders at the doors of the building on Calle Alcalá.

Arrimadas was near the headquarters with other members of the list.

Guasp wants to run for primaries

Guasp affirmed this Monday that her intention is to also present herself in the July primaries to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Government, but sources on her list reveal that the decision will be assessed at the time.

The new political spokesperson will also be the Cs candidate for the regional elections in the Balearic Islands, on May 28, and she will combine her new position at the head of the party with the spokesperson in the regional Parliament, where the formation now has five seats.

For his part, Arrimadas has not dropped out of the race for the next primaries in July to compete as

by Citizens to Congress.

Therefore, even without executive power, he could opt for that position.

In November 2019, when Cs won ten seats in the general elections after winning 57 deputies just six months earlier, Arrimadas was not the candidate, but Albert Rivera.

"She has never introduced herself," they reiterate from his team.

A possibility that Begoña Villacís also left on the air, this Wednesday, on TVE.

The deputy mayor of Madrid, who was also on Guasp's side in the contest, was in the penultimate place on her list and has been one of the most critical leaders of the confrontation between Bal and Arrimadas.

In any case, it will be Guasp who carries the backpack of the results of the regional and municipal elections in May, while Arrimadas will be released from that burden.

Bal does not throw in the towel

Opposite, Bal has to assume the defeat this Thursday, not only with respect to Guasp and Vázquez, but -what is worse-, against Arrimadas and Villacís, with whom he maintains an open battle for the remains of Ciudadanos and the identity party ideology.

Guasp accused the deputy of committing "falsehoods" and of not "having a word" during the debate that both staged this Monday.

But, nevertheless, the spokesman is determined to attend, again and despite leaving the internal polls weakened, to the July primaries.

Even though he is the big loser, he maintains his firm purpose of being the future candidate for the general elections for Cs.

The general assembly that Cs celebrates this weekend remains on the horizon, in which Guasp and Vázquez will stage their coming-out in front of the 400 delegates summoned in the conclave, in Madrid.

An appointment in which two new presentations will also be confirmed, the one on statutes and values, written by the refoundation team.

Later, the future Executive will be constituted in its entirety for a new Citizens who will have to face the May appointment in a more than delicate situation.

Also with the obstacle of a party and a parliamentary group fighting over the internal struggle.

All the deputies are on Bal's side, except Guillermo Díaz.

The spokesman and Arrimadas have hardly exchanged a word since the beginning of the year.