Albert Rivera's bet on forming a centre-right government with the PP and Vox is a risky one
weather some 500 people gathered on February 23rd in Plaza de la Villa, one of Madrid’s oldest squares, to launch the election campaign of Ciudadanos , one of Spain’s newer political parties. A year ago Ciudadanos, which describes itself as a centrist, liberal party, was leading the opinion polls, with around 27% of the vote in a crowded field. Now it trails behind both the governing Socialists and the conservative People’s Party .
A fortnight earlier this trio joined forces in a much bigger demonstration in another Madrid square, to protest against Mr Sánchez. Vox is a Spanish nationalist party that in some respects resembles far-right movements elsewhere in Europe. This is a strange place to be for a liberal party once compared to Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche in France. “I’m surprised they are putting a cordon sanitaire against me and not the far right,” said Mr Sánchez.
Ciudadanos, which was formed in Catalonia, has always had two souls: one liberal and the other anti-separatist and thus Spanish nationalist. It is still liberal on lifestyle issues and favours modernising economic reforms, but these proposals are “harder to understand” in a “polarised scenario”, says Toni Roldán, a Ciudadanos legislator. The party’s rise and its decline owe much to the political earthquake caused by Catalan separatism.
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