Five months ago, Ciudadanos started a “listening process” in which both organic officials and militants have given their opinion on the solutions to get out of the deep quagmire. During the tough meeting of the Executive a week ago, in which the shield of Inés Arrimadas as political head fell thanks to pressure from the opposite side, made up of, among others, the deputy Edmundo Bal and the attorney in Cortes Francisco Igea, some leaders demanded the jewel in the crown. They wanted to know the concrete results of the questionnaires to verify if the presentations of the January assembly correspond to the demands of the bases. One of the friction points of this underground war.
The data was posted in the executive’s chat for a few seconds. Someone asked to remove them and show them on a screen. The message was deleted ipso facto. Its content has not been disseminated among the bases, as it has been done with the presentations on values and statutes. Management sources explain to this newspaper that they are “things that are not intended for the outside” and that “a confidentiality agreement was signed not to expose them.” EL PAÍS has accessed this data.
Among the issues on which the bases are asked is the issue of the brand, one of the debates that generated the most interest from outside the gates. The management decided to keep the name Ciudadanos. According to the results of the questionnaires, the polled militants asked for the opposite: 70% of those surveyed want to change their name. The presentation of the statutes, whose drafting unleashed the internal war last week, incorporates in its article 1 that the party is called Ciudadanos. It also includes the possibility of changing the abbreviation. The management is considering replacing Cs with Cdd, modifying the color and the logo. The question to which the bases responded was this: “Do you think it would be good to definitively change the name of the party at the national level (regardless of what is decided for Catalonia)?”
25% opted for “yes, I like Liberals”; 45% for “yes, but I would like to have several options to choose from” and 30% for “no, we must continue with the Ciudadanos brand”. In addition, 60% of those polled also demanded “starting from scratch” with “something new”.
Executive sources justify the decision on the name based on the analysis of a communication consultancy and in accordance with the majority opinion obtained from the militancy. They also allege that to these questionnaires we must add the contributions collected in the Refoundation Route and other surveys. A source from the refoundation affirms that these questionnaires include the quantitative feelings of militants and officials, and that some of the statements about the wishes of the bases were not true.
Regarding leadership, the results also reflect the controversial question that ignited the fuse between the faction that supported transversal presidentialism —such as Bal and Igea— and those who bet on a double head in which the political leader would continue to be Arrimadas —the team of the leader —.
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“Different party models”
To the question “In Spain and in Europe there are different party models, which do you think is more suitable for the new stage?”, the militants surveyed responded as follows: 42% identified themselves with “strong national leadership and direction, endorsed by the militancy in primaries, from which emanate the decisions that are defended equally in all territories”; 53% opted for “authority to be distributed among the national leadership, mainly, but also the territories”, and 5% for “a model of the PNV style, where the party leadership is the one that chooses the leadership and takes the organic and strategic decisions, among which is the election of the candidate without primaries”.
Meanwhile, the divorce between Bal and Arrimadas “has stressed” the parliamentary group —as sources from it say— due to the power struggle and the taking of positions. While the deputy is “one step” away from announcing his candidacy for political spokesperson, the still president continues without confirming if she will run in the primaries, something that for many is a fact. Publicly, her party leaders are pressing for her to resign. As an example, Igea asked on Twitter for a “new leadership”; and two deputies, María Muñoz and María Carmen Martínez, gave I like it to the tweet.
In @CiudadanosCs it is the hour of generosity and unity.
We have accepted that there were organizational errors, strategy errors… and personal errors. We need a new leadership that adds the best of the past, but that opens up new hope for the Spanish people.— Francisco Igea Arisqueta (@FranciscoIgea) November 29, 2022
On this matter, the questionnaires show that the bases want to “revalidate party leadership”, “refresh faces” and “fresh air”. The leadership affirmed on October 14 that there was unanimity among the “militancy” about adopting the two-headed model to “protect” Arrimadas as the main political asset.
Consult all the results of the questionnaires at this link.
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