• Primaries: Arrimadas sweeps Francisco Igea with 77% of the votes in the Ciudadanos primaries
  • Interview.Inés Arrimadas: "No one in Spain thinks that things could not have been done otherwise"
  • The resignation.Albert Rivera resigns as leader of Cs and announces that he leaves politics after the debacle in the elections

Albert Rivera has neither wanted to attend nor participate in the historic general assembly of Citizens in which the liberal party is going to renew itself. The conclave will serve for the new leadership to take over from Rivera's team, although Inés Arrimadas was already elected president in early March, after she swept the Cs primary, just a week before the state of alarm was decreed .

The general assembly was scheduled, in principle, for the weekend of March 14 and 15 in Madrid. The management invited Rivera to participate or attend, but Rivera then declined the offer. Management sources explain that it was "a personal decision" that ties in with their intention to "totally leave politics" and respect it.

Albert Rivera resigned last November 11 after the debacle of Citizens the previous night, when the orange formation sank without palliation from 57 to only 10 deputies.

After 13 years of leadership, Rivera completely closed this chapter of his life and totally disassociated himself from the party he founded. The former Cs leader now works in a law firm, Martínez-Echevarría, oblivious to public life. Since his resignation, he has not granted interviews and has avoided making public statements, beyond some comments on his Twitter account.

Now, when the assembly is held electronically, the management has not insisted that he attend. This time it is not foreseen that there will be guests, only the delegates who will participate in the debates of the papers and in the virtual voting to choose the direction of the party and the new General Council.

In the general assembly of Cs not only will Rivera be absent. Neither will be the one who was always his number two , José Manuel Villegas , nor his Secretary of Communication, Fernando de Páramo , nor that of Organization, Francisco Hervías . None of them are expected to participate in the conclave, even through a recorded video message.

Executive sources downplay these notable absences. "Rivera already said goodbye to everyone at the meeting in which he announced his resignation and it was he who decided not to be present now; there is no more mystery," sources close to Inés Arrimadas assure.

"You will always have your place here"

"Rivera could come perfectly; he will always have his place here, whenever and wherever he wants, of course," they explain from the Orange Executive Committee , "but at the time he decided that he preferred not to be there and we accepted it."

The one who was secretary general of Cs, José Manuel Villegas, was going to present the management report of the previous Executive in the March assembly. But since he has just signed for the law firm that Rivera chairs, Martínez-Echeverría , neither will he. Instead, it will be a voice- over who accounts for Rivera's management and that of the previous team, as explained in Ciudadanos.

The general assembly that will renew the direction, the statutes and the training strategy will be held 100% telematically between April 30 and May 3. The 510 delegates who have registered will be able to participate in the debates of the papers, defend amendments or reject them through different Zoom rooms , that is, virtual rooms where a large number of participants can intervene from their homes.

On Sunday May 3, Inés Arrimadas will close the conclave in an intervention also from her home, this time open to be followed even by YouTube .

The new direction

The new team that will replace the Rivera Executive is chaired by Inés Arrimadas and made up of leaders who were already in the previous Executive. The general secretary will be the previous head of Programs, Marina Bravo .

Behind her will be the first deputy secretary, Carlos Cuadrado , and the second, José María Espejo-Saavedra . The manager's spokesperson, Melisa Rodríguez , will repeat as a spokesperson for Ciudadanos.

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  • Citizens
  • Albert Rivera
  • Inés Arrimadas
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