Ciudadanos starts 2022 with a very black future. The political party led by Inés Arrimadas expects to lose half of its active affiliates during this new year. This forecast stems from the economic forecasts approved by the General Council of the party at the end of December, to which Spanish newspaper El Independiente had access. The new drop in militants will place them at about 9,500 affiliates, 72% less than three years ago.
The orange formation reached its peak of militancy during the general campaign of April 28th, 2019, when the possibility of surpassing the PP was very real. At that time, under Albert Rivera’s leadership, the formation reached 57 deputies and had 34,000 active subscribers. The electoral repetition was the first coup de grâce for the party, as it helped to reduce the number of militants to 28,015. At the beginning of 2020 this figure was still falling and reached 27,402.
Currently, two years and eight months after the peak in number of militants, Cs faces a year in which they may be left with less than 9,500 militants, which will mean losing 47.65% of income from dues compared to the previous year and staying with 72% less militancy than in 2019.
Fewer militants, less income
Arrimadas's formation not only faces the problem of losing capacity for political action through its bases, but also suffers other losses: economic ones. The fewer militants, the fewer dues to collect. A reduction in funding that adds to the loss of income they suffer every time they lose representatives in any chamber of the Spanish State.
According to El Independiente, in 2022 the party will lose over one million euros in revenue, which adds to the decline in contributions from institutional groups in Madrid and the great loss of deputies in Catalonia, which translates into 1.7 million euros less in the party’s coffers. In total, the orange formation will lose almost three million euros.
The reduction of its budget is noticeable in the party's accounts. Cs has cut approximately 4.5 million euros from its 2022 budgets, which would allow it to end the year with a surplus of 1.7 million. However, the party is not close to bankruptcy, since it has a fund of 9.9 million euros saved.
Flight of Cs representatives
The party has not only lost rank-and-file members, but also some of its elected representatives. The last one to join the row of Cs dissidents has been Laura Pérez Macho, deputy and ex-spokesperson of Cs in the General Assembly of the Principality of Asturias, who resigned from her post before the chamber's board on January 4th. She resigned because she does not share the party’s strategy.
The deputy regretted that she has not yet received a response to the requests for protection before the committee of guarantees of Cs "for situations of discriminatory treatment and pressure experienced in recent months as a deputy. Pérez Macho affirmed that "if they do not let me work, if they do not allow me to partake in politics and parliamentarism for the Asturians, I will not continue receiving a salary".