Origins (2005–2006) Background Citizens was preceded by the political platform
Ciutadans de Catalunya (Citizens of Catalonia), formed on 7 June 2005 by a group of fifteen academics, writers and other figures of Catalan society (including
Albert Boadella,
Félix de Azúa, and
Francesc de Carreras) in reaction to the
Generalitat's plans to reform the
Statute of Autonomy. The group presented their manifesto at the
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona on the 21st of the same month, where they called on "citizens of Catalonia who identify with our proposal to demand a political party which will contribute to the restoration of realism", expressing their lacking confidence in the government to "address the real problems faced by the general public." In this manifesto, they declared that "the rhetoric of hatred promulgated by official Catalan government media against everything Spanish is more alarming than ever" and that "the [Catalan] nation, postulated as an homogenous entity, has taken over the space where an undeniably diverse society lives". Leading up to their formation as a political party,
Ciutadans de Catalunya organised several round table meetings and conferences that were occasionally met with controversy; at one event held ahead of the
referendum on the 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy, several members of the group were assaulted by pro-independence activists. A second manifesto was presented at the
Teatro Tívoli in Barcelona on 4 March 2006.
Foundation Their founding conference was held in July in Barcelona, where Citizens was formally incorporated as a
political party under the full name of
Ciudadanos–Partido de la Ciudadanía (Citizens–Party of the Citizenry).
Albert Rivera, 26 years old at the time, was elected its first leader.
Early years (2006–2013) Catalan regional elections Cs presented in 16 September its candidature for the
2006 Catalan regional election, taking part in an election for the first time. The party voted against the investiture of
José Montilla. For the
2010 regional election, Albert Rivera was chosen the party's candidate for the presidency of the
Catalan Generalitat. The party ended up winning 105,827 votes, the 3.4%, three tenths up from the previous election, maintaining its 3 MPs in the process. C's took part in the
2012 snap election with Rivera as its candidate again. Its campaign slogan was "Better united". The party received 274,925 votes, the 7.58%, winning 9 MPs and tripling its votes. The party's substantial growth in support was mainly due to its role as a counterweight to the growing public support for independence in Catalonia, with C's acting as one of its most outspoken opponents. The party contested in the
2007 Spanish local elections, winning only 13 councillors, all in Catalonia. Cs decided to contest in the
2008 Spanish general election, presenting lists all over the country, and expecting to win MPs at least in
Madrid and
Barcelona. However, the party only won 45,750 votes (0.18%), being unable to achieve parliamentary representation. Cs participated in the
2009 European Parliament election. The party initially tried to do so in a coalition with the ideologically similar
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPYD), but the offer was rejected. The party's decision to take part in the
Eurosceptic and nationalist
Libertas coalition was met with controversy and led to infighting in the party due to it being at odds with Citizens' professed ideology and alleged irregularities in the process. but its offer was rejected for the fourth time, leading the party to not contest in order to not divide the vote. C's decided to take part in the
2014 European election, where the party received 3.16% of the national vote (497,146 votes) and elected two
MEPs. Both MEPs subsequently joined the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. As part of its national implementation strategy, the party sealed alliances with various minor parties. Parties such as the
Liberal Democratic Centre,
Union of the Salamancan People, the
Regionalist Party of Castile and León, and the
Union of the Extremaduran People joined Ciudadanos in 2014. The
Sorian People's Platform did the same in 2015.
2015 and 2016 elections Citizens took part in the
2015 Catalan regional election, where it obtained 734,910 votes, the 17.93% of the total vote, more than doubling its results once again. By winning 25 MPs, the party became the second largest faction in the Catalan parliament. In the
2015 general elections, Cs entered parliament with 3,500,446 votes (the 13.93%) and 40 seats. As PP's
Mariano Rajoy refused the mandate to form a government, Citizens promised the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) its support in parliament in exchange for a number of political concessions. However, this pact would have needed the support of
Podemos, which Citizens could not abide by; this deadlock ultimately led to the
2016 snap election, where the party lost 0.8% of the popular vote and eight seats. After these elections, Citizens struck a deal with the conservative PP in supporting its government in exchange for a number of political concessions.
After a 10-month political deadlock, PP leader Mariano Rajoy was able to win investiture as Prime Minister and retain power.
Electoral peak Following the
illegal independence referendum in Catalonia and the unilateral
declaration of independence in October 2017, C's supported the application of the
article 155 of the
Spanish constitution. This led to the
2017 snap election in Catalonia, where Cs received 1,109,732 votes (25.26%) and obtained 36 MPs, effectively becoming the most voted party in Catalonia, being the first time in democracy where a non-Catalan nationalist party won a Catalan regional election. Cs candidate
Inés Arrimadas did not present for investiture due to lacking enough support to be invested as President of the Catalan Generalitat. Cs became the third most voted party in the
2018 Andalusian regional election, winning 21 MPs with 18.27% of the votes. The party became the junior partner of a coalition government with the PP, which received the external support of
Vox. Cs achieved its best result in a general election in the
April 2019 Spanish general election, winning 4,136,600 votes (the 15.86%) and 57 seats, becoming the third most voted party in the country. In the
2019 European elections, the party obtained 12% of the vote, and won a total of seven MEPs (which became eight post-brexit).
Electoral decline (2019–present) Rivera's resignation C's went through electoral collapse in the
November 2019 general election, having lost 80% of its seats (going from 57 to 10) and maintaining only 1,6 million votes (the 6.79%, down from the 15,9% of the previous election). This led to the resignation of Albert Rivera as party president,
Arrimadas' leadership In March 2021, Citizens, together with the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, presented a surprise no-confidence motion in the
Region of Murcia against their own regional coalition government with the
People's Party. The motion failed due to defection of several Ciudadanos deputies, and triggered a "political earthquake" across the country, leading to a number of high-ranking members abandoning the party. In the aftermath, Cs also lost all its 26 deputies in Madrid in the
2021 Madrilenian regional election, and fell in
country-wide polls from ≈7% support (≈10 deputies) down to ≈3% (≈1 deputy).
Vázquez's leadership In September 2023,
Francisco Igea and
Edmundo Bal were expelled from Citizens for criticising the party's decision not to contest the
2023 Spanish general election. Igea did not appeal the decision and did not resign his seat. This left Cs without any seats in Spanish regional parliaments, outside of Catalonia. The party would lose all of its seats in the Parliament of Catalonia in the
2024 election, and all of its seats in the
2024 European Parliament election a month later. After the European Parliament election, the party was left with no members of the Congress of Deputies, Senate, European Parliament, or any regional parliament, but still retained 392 at the municipal level. == Ideology ==