Lorena Roldán, spokesperson for Ciudadanos (Cs) in the Parliament of Catalonia, has announced that she is leaving Cs and will now be part of the candidature for their unionist rival, the Popular Party (PP). It is the latest blow to a party which, thanks to its 2017 election performance, is still the largest in the Catalan parliament, with 36 MPs, but whose electoral popularity has plummeted in the last year.
Roldán, who won the primaries to lead the party into the upcoming Catalan parliamentary elections on February 14th, but was later replaced by Carlos Carrizosa, announced her decision via Twitter: "Today I end my phase at Cs." She also announced that she will continue to defend her political values "from the project of Alejandro Fernández", leader of the PP in Catalonia. She is to be number two on the PP list for the 2021 Catalan elections, and will thus probably return to Parliament.
Hoy finalizo mi etapa en Cs. Una decisión difícil pero muy meditada. Mi compromiso con la libertad y la convivencia sigue igual de vivo que el primer día y, por eso, quiero anunciar que seguiré defendiendo esos valores desde el proyecto de @alejandroTGN. Gracias por la confianza. pic.twitter.com/CSoKMCNWWK
— Lorena Roldán (@Lroldansu) December 30, 2020
In a letter attached to her tweet, Roldán explains that she has resigned from her seat as a senator and also from her positions within the party. However, she does not make clarify whether she is leaving Parliament, where she is now part of the Diputació Permanent which takes action that is necessary when Parliament is not sitting.
In the letter, addressed to her colleagues, affiliates and Cs supporters, she explains that she has taken the decision to dispense with her party membership after "a long, and difficult, process of reflection."
"Ciudadanos was born as a barrier of restraint against nationalism and not as a supporter of those who, through their pacts, empower those who seek to break up [Spain]" she notes. And she continues: "The governance of this country cannot rest on those who aim to destroy our rule of law, and this must always be a red line," she adds.
Asserting that now more than ever "a strong constitutionalism" is needed, "not only in Catalonia", she says that the values she stands for are not those embodied by PP's leader in Catalonia, Alejandro Fernández.
Finally, Roldán reserves special thanks for former Cs leader Albert Rivera, saying that he always believed in her.