Francisco José Requejo, in an act of Zamora Sí at the beginning of February. Europa press
Zamora, Almería, Madrid, Barcelona… The cascade of casualties in Ciudadanos, which continues despite the refounding of the party, translates not only into signings from the Popular Party, but also into the creation of new parties.
Dozens of public officials, most of them local, are joining regionalist formations born as a result of the CS crisis.
A dynamic that is reproduced in different parts of the geography, with an eye on the municipal and regional elections on May 28, and given the terrible expectations of the brand for which they competed in 2019, according to surveys.
“We have already confirmed many candidacies.
I can assure you that there will be liberal ballots in all corners of Spain," said Patricia Guasp, political spokesperson for CS, after the first meeting of the new national committee in Valencia,
this Friday.
But reality reflects a not very encouraging situation.
Zamora Yes
.
One of the bloodiest cases is that of the new party named Zamora Sí, launched by Francisco José Requejo.
President of the Zamora Provincial Council since 2019 thanks to the Ciudadanos ballot, he left the party on the 16th after facing the CS regional committee.
Requejo clung to the act as a councilor and will continue as the main provincial leader until the appointment at the polls.
Zamora Yes, which this week has opened its headquarters and website, will be present at the polling stations of other Zamora municipalities.
More former members of Wayward Citizens have joined his ranks and under his brand, Requejo will aspire to the City Council of the capital.
Almeria advances.
In Andalusia, Pepe Montoya, former CS councilor in Roquetas de Mar, has given birth to Almería Avanza.
A province where a trail of membership losses is accumulating as a result of the disaster in the regional elections last June.
The still mayor of the coastal municipality presents his "provincial political project" as an "independent and free from ties" brand, and calls for "all those people defrauded by the traditional parties" to join his lists.
The former spokesperson for CS in the City Council of the Almeria capital, Miguel Cazorla, announced this Monday that he is joining the project, whose presentation will take place in the city of Almería on March 1.
Also in Andalusia, Ramón Martínez, mayor of Huéscar (Granada),
Pepe Montoya announces the launch of Almería Avanza on the past 17.
Valents and with you.
Along with the recently created formations, other parties founded in recent years by former Ciudadanos officials coexist.
Among which is Valents, sponsored by the councilor of the Barcelona City Council Eva Parera, former right-hand man of Manuel Valls, and emerged as a result of the fracture of CS in the Consistory due to the confrontation between the former French president and the leadership.
Since its creation in 2021, Valents has already brought together more than 3,000 affiliates in Catalonia, where it intends to bring together "all center-right constitutionalism" in a single candidacy.
The project generated discomfort in its beginnings in Ciudadanos, which accuses it of relying on "transfuguismo".
Parera kicked off the pre-campaign with a great event in Barcelona on January 29, where she introduced herself as “the Catalan UPN”.
For its part, Contigo began in 2017 as a "municipalist" platform promoted by former officials of Ciudadanos in the Valencian Community critical of the then leader, Albert Rivera.
Today they have more than 3,000 affiliates and are established throughout the territory.
They ran for the first time in elections in the European and municipal elections on May 26, 2019, in which they won two mayors and 22 councilors in the Consistory of the provinces of Seville, Gualadajara, Valencia and Salamanca.
And, at the end of last January, the leader of Contigo moved to the Community of Madrid to attract other councilors from municipalities in which Ciudadanos achieved broad representation four years ago, and now dissatisfied with the new management.
One of the notable signings is that of the most voted mayor in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants,
Sources from the National Directorate of Citizens acknowledge the difficulties in configuring lists in certain municipalities due to their deep crisis.
Also the fear of these new parties, which further fragment the vote and rescue some of its figures who,
a priori
, had more options to survive, such as the mayor of Paracuellos.
And above all taking into account that in local elections the person shoots on many occasions more than the mark.
Other sources from the executive point out that the casualties will now stop in March.
Ciudadanos retains some 2,500 councilors throughout Spain.
The passing of the days will shed light on the path they end up taking.
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