The fact that the UCD won the first election after the Dictatorship, creating a mix that encompasses everything from social democracy to Christian democracy, was certainly a good thing for Spain to begin to overcome its many painful traumas. But it also caused the “centre” to become a political category without ideological support. This curse has prevented the existence of a liberal party that has existed in most European countries until today, and condemned every formation that defines itself as “centrist” to not go beyond two legislatures and three legislatures.
That’s what happened at the time with CDS, and now its penultimate mascletá bursting is happening in Ciudadanos, where Valencia lives its Fallas in the Alicante County Council. Of the two provincial deputies the formation achieved in 2019, which gave the government to the PP, one, Javier Gutiérrez, left the formation minutes ago, although the PSOE was the party with the most votes in the state. they fired him and the vice president Julia Parra because that was when he played on his own schedule.
Are they fugitives? Legally yes. But to be honest, they are not the ones who changed their positions in any case: from the very first minute of the legislature, and since the leadership of Ciudadanos in Madrid so decided, Gutiérrez and Parra, in their execution, are indistinguishable from the PP. Join hands with Mazón, who has never seen his presidency threatened in these four years.
It is logical that PSOE and Compromís demand that Mazón implement the anti-transfuguismo pact with derivatives of exclusive dedication and advisor losses. And let them shout and make a fuss. But fifteen days after the announcement of regional elections, and a little over two months before both these and municipal elections, we all know that this is a toast to the sun. The popular César Sánchez, who in the previous legislature had counted on remaining as head of the Provincial Assembly by a vote of one who left Ciudadanos, wished he could have sustained the eye scam during the four years that Fernando Sepulcre held an office. With salaries in excess of 50,000 euros per year as the State House and my colleague Ana Jover describe here, Mazón is no longer likely to face greater difficulties in finishing his mandate peacefully. Additionally, the problem in these cases remains the utter lack of credibility of all the heroes: no party, neither the PSOE, nor the PP, nor Compromís has made it abominable to rule with defectors wherever they can. with. Exceptions are few and only serve to justify this rule. In any case, as I said, for what remains of the convent, it is reasonable to expect Mazón to apply the regulations according to what the lawyers of the house pointed out, and peace here and victory there.
As all history records remember these days, Ciudadanos had six spokespersons in the Valencian Parliament in eight years, a record that will be hard for any of them to match again. like some Carolina Punset, Eventually PSOE consultants, others like Ruth Merino became PP consultants and others like the indescribable ones. toni sang They’re doing the show from corner to corner, next stop is at Vox. So Ciudadanos has long been a dead prey, with all predators competing for skin. It’s a booty. As I warned here over two years ago (“18 orphans” released on February 20, 2021), the battle to determine who will run Generalitat for the next four years doesn’t just happen if Podemos exceeds 5%. 18 seats (19 of which were then led by Isabel Bonig) if she allows her to continue to be represented on the Corts or if Compromís bears the blow of the loss of Mónica Oltra, but if the PP manages to retain a majority of the votes, which made Ciudadanos the third political force in the Community four years ago. popular ones) and 466,391 votes, barely forty thousand less than the PP.
Are they fugitives? Legally yes. But to be honest, they are by no means the ones who changed their positions: from the first minute they are indistinguishable from PP.
In Alicante, however, Ciudadanos was virtually on par with the PP (less than nine thousand votes difference), outstripping the PP in the six most populous municipalities in the province (Alicante, Alcoy, San Vicente, Elda, Villena). and Dénia) and Elche were only a hundred votes away from sorpasso. Without Ciudadanos, the PP would not have been able to maintain the capital’s governments and State Council, the bases from which the popular ones launched operations to reconquer Palau. Two votes allowed mason established themselves as the leader of this war, javier gutierrez and Julia Parra, from the exact same jurisdiction, that of l’Alacantí. So, in the case of the two deputies who left Ciudadanos this week, we are not only talking about what will happen to the Special Provincial Administration in the very short time remaining until the next elections, but also what has happened. will happen in the next command. Who will add those two seats that Ciudadanos will leave empty? Only a crucial advance in the PSOE region can prevent both of them being screwed up by the PP and guarantee that posh provincial political platform, headquartered on Avenida de la Estación, for another four years.
Mazón was clear about this from the start. Therefore, by consolidating his bomb-proof deal with Ciudadanos at Diputación, he always spoiled his two aides, that the leadership of that party in Madrid, even if he was at the head of the party. river like get oldHe was unreliable, for the next elections, person to person, person to person, one eye on autonomy, the other on him, he is always looking forward to snatching whatever he can from their votes and positions. municipalities and their derivatives, namely the Special Provincial Administration.
So everyone is applied to swallow the gazelle, that is, to protect the huge ballot box that Ciudadanos has managed to add.
Ximo Puig thought from the first minute that any profitable deal with the Ciudadanos teams in Alicante was impossible. But another way, like Mazón, he tried to get a slice of orange until the last day, sometimes using his successive leaders to pressure Compromís to change alliances in Valencia, as in Botany’s first legislature. now it is trying to use its dwindling votes at the time of the reduction to renew legal bodies as important as the Sindicatura de Comptes or to change the electoral law. A poorly planned move: you cannot make such changes by excluding the main opposition party, because it is a boomerang that will respond to you. And worse, it’s made up: you can’t speculate about it at the expense of a deal when the Corts are about to fall apart and their capacity to make it happen is no longer certain. It is not known which is worse, whether the seemingly difficult maneuver succeeded or failed. But no matter what, the damage to the institutionalism of the system is obvious, and of course it is more serious than the shenanigans of the Provincial General Assembly.
So everyone is applied to swallow the gazelle, that is, to preserve the enormous representation that Ciudadanos has managed to add. With some honorable exceptions, the cadres of this party, whose pompous and shameful unpreparedness will deserve a separate episode, continue their lives without pursuing offers that will somehow extend their contracts beyond May 28. Most will go with the PP to appear on their non-fit lists, except for a select few, but in exchange for a promise that their needs will be met if Mazón heads the Generalitat. Others – at least – want the same protection in Puig. But what matters is what the voters do. The real feast is there, not in the offal.