“What’s there?” asks Antonio, 84, as he gazes at the doors of CS headquarters in Madrid, where a debate between the three candidates for leadership of the party was taking place this Monday afternoon. When a journalist clarifies it for him, Antonio takes up the questions again: “Oh, to see if Edmundo Bal or Inés Arrimadas stay, right? I see Edmundo. Where is the candidate? And who votes? Because now there are only a few left,” says the neighbor, looking through the glass of the building on Calle Alcalá.
Behind that glass, this Monday afternoon, there is a heated debate with harsh accusations between the candidates for the leadership of Ciudadanos: Patricia Guasp, Edmundo Bal and Marcos Morales. One of the three candidates will be the new Cs boss from next Thursday. The three are running for the post of political spokesman, whose name will be decided by party members by voting in the primaries, which take place between Wednesday and Thursday. And the three – the Cs coordinator in the Balearic Islands, the speaker in Congress and the third, a member with no organic position – have contrasted their party models in the second debate organized as part of the internal election campaign that started the week before. The figure of outgoing President Inés Arrimadas – who hugged Guasp on arrival and took a picture with the members of her list – and the role she will play from now on have put the beginning of the discussion in focus.
There are three lists contesting the leadership. Led by Guasp and MEP Adrián Vázquez – and of which Arrimadas belongs, last -; Bal-led and Madrid City Councilman Santiago Saura; and that promoted by two little-known members, Morales and the Mayor of the City Council of El Álamo (Madrid) Laura Alves. “I wanted to apologize for the show we put on during the election campaign these days,” Morales began his speech, who has little chance of winning.
Because the attacks launched by both sides on social networks and in the media have become part of the debate this Monday. “Adrián Vázquez told me that the lead needed to be renewed. What happened that you changed your mind and are the official and continuous candidacy?” snapped Bal, who flatly denies Arrimadas continuing to lead the Cs speaker in Congress. “The word is the most important value a politician has and you have shown that you do not have it. The direction you are criticizing is you. You are the only one who has not taken a step alongside this executive, ”has responded the coordinator of citizens of the Balearic Islands.
A total of 7,642 member organizations are called upon to take part in the primary elections. The result of the vote will be announced on Thursday afternoon shortly after electronic polling stations close. From that moment, Arrimadas will cease to hold both Cs political representation and organic power. However, it remains to be seen whether the outgoing president will show up in the July primary to run as number one in the general election. After the primaries, a new executive will be installed at the controls of Guasp, Bal or Morales and it will be the future leadership that will have to apply the results obtained during the re-establishment process. Some conclusions, which were also protagonists in the forum, especially regarding whether or not the documents published by the party obey the real will of the bases, since the team that led the re-creation – known as “G-8” and by in which Guasp was involved, signed a confidentiality agreement not to disclose the content of the questionnaires.
“A very large space opens up for us with a reformist agenda. Especially from the radical principles of the centre-liberals confronted with an exhausted socialism,” continued Guasp, who also revealed his intention to appear in the primary elections as early as the summer to top the list for Congress. “I will never be in the People’s Party. We’ll have to see if you’ll be in the Socialist Party. Don’t deceive with your untruths,” the contestant has claimed in reference to Bal, who has reacted heatedly. “We will fight to the end. I will run for the office of district president in the primary elections in July. We should have governed with the Socialist Party in Murcia and in Castilla y León. It must be clear that an agreement will be required and we must do so according to our principles. We have a great opportunity that may be the last. We will not cooperate with lies or deceit,” said the deputy, who sees Guasp’s candidacy as the list of Arrimadas’ puppets. “You don’t have to choose between the ruling party and a change that doesn’t change anything,” Morales said.
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After Thursday’s vote, the list of winners will be presented over the weekend to the 400 delegates who will attend the Ciudadanos General Assembly in Madrid, where the new statutes and values presentation drafted by the founding team will also be endorsed. .
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