Citizens (Spanish: Ciudadanos [θjuðaˈðanos] listenⓘ; Catalan: Ciutadans [siwtəˈðans]; shortened as Cs—C's until January 2017), officially Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Ciudadanos–Partido de la Ciudadanía),[12] is a liberal[17] political party in Spain.

[40] Founded in Catalonia in 2006, the party initially enjoyed growing support throughout the 2010s on a regional and national level, owing to its staunch opposition to Catalan independence as well as the PP's decline in popularity under then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Citizens reached its electoral zenith at the April 2019 general election, where it became the third-largest party in the country and pulled ahead of the PP in several regions.

In 2021, the party failed to pass a no-confidence vote against its own regional government with the PP in Murcia,[18] after which its coalition partner in the Assembly of Madrid triggered a snap election over fears of meeting the same fate — this resulted in Citizens losing all of its Madrilenian seats, having already lost 30 of its 36 seats in Catalonia earlier that year.

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."

[46] 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.

[49] 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).

Cs decided to contest in the 2008 Spanish general election,[60] presenting lists all over the country, and expecting to win MPs at least in Madrid and Barcelona.

[84] 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.

[85] 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.

[86] After a 10-month political deadlock, PP leader Mariano Rajoy was able to win investiture as Prime Minister and retain power.

[89] Cs candidate Inés Arrimadas did not present for investiture due to lacking enough support to be invested as President of the Catalan Generalitat.

[97] 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 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.

[19][40][107] Cs is mainly regarded as a liberal party,[12][42][29][40] known for its strong opposition to Catalan nationalism[108] and its support of European federalism.

[38][39] In a party conference held on 20 May 2018 to present its platform España Ciudadana, Rivera said in a hall filled with Spanish flags: I do not see reds and blues, I see Spaniards.

[146][147][148] Other topics include a thorough reform of the electoral system with the aim of creating greater proportionality that would give less weight to single constituencies.

However, it criticises what it calls the miscalculation of the quota or contribution which is negotiated between governments and has been causing significant differences that they regard as having become outrageous.

[75][76] On 27 October 2018, Citizens' pressure led to the expulsion of Carles Puigdemont's Catalan European Democratic Party from ALDE due to its history of corruption.

To be decided  Present in legislature (in opposition)  Junior coalition partner  Senior coalition partner In 2006, the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya revealed that Rivera was a card-carrying member of the conservative People's Party (PP) between 2002 and 2006 and that he had left the PP only three months before running for election in Citizens.

Former PSC activist Juan Carlos Girauta had joined the PP[165] and became a prolific contributor to conservative journalism from his Libertad Digital column[166] before becoming a Citizens member and candidate in the 2014 European election.

[167] During his long tenure as Libertad Digital columnist and COPE debater, Girauta expressed strong sympathies for right-wing Zionism (to the point of calling then-President Zapatero an antisemite)[168] and lent credibility [169][170] to the now discredited book by Victor Farías[171] dismissing socialist politician Salvador Allende as a racist and a social Darwinist, without clarifying that the quotations about genetic determinism in Allende's doctoral dissertation were themselves quotations from other authors (mostly Cesare Lombroso) or the fact that Allende was highly critical of these conclusions in his thesis which was later published as a rebuttal to Farías' position.

In 2015, a member of the Citizens electoral list for Gijón to the city council and regional elections posted pro-Falangist, pro-Blue Division and pro-Hitler Youth messages on Facebook.

[177][178][179][180][181] Members of Ciudadanos have repeatedly taken part in violent attacks on Catalan targets[182][183][184][185] and far-right and ultranationalist groups are usually present in their demonstrations.

The altercation left at least three people wounded, including an 82-year-old man and a local CUP councilor who explicitly accused Citizens and Falange militants from across the whole region to be among the provocateurs.

For example, Albert Boadella became one of the co-founders of the Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) party led by former Basque Socialist politician Rosa Díez.

According to some members of Cs, the negotiations prior to this electoral pact were led personally and secretly by the party leader Albert Rivera.

[198] In turn, the official stance of Cs is that the critics are using the dispute as a pretext to canvass support for the ideologically similar UPyD.

party shared membership in the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, over its alleged willingness to work with the far-right Vox.