Miriam González launches Democracia21, Spain's latest centrist project

Democracia21, the latest centrist party attempt, launched with Miriam González

The scene repeats itself with the punctuality of a religious procession: someone with a well-known name and good press announces a centrist party — liberal, dialogue-minded and friendly towards Spain's regional peculiarities. This time the protagonist is Miriam González Durántez, a lawyer and vvife of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is presenting Democracia21 in the middle of gathering the endorsements required to run, promising a «change of cycle». According to reports circulating, the European liberals of ALDE have sounded her out about a joint list for a general election. The announcement lands with the echo of an old joke: the Spanish centre, that place where projects that never take off pile up.

The reaction was not long in coming. Some see the move as a PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) makeover operation, while others dismiss it on principle. The question hanging over it all is always the same: is there real space for a centrist party in a country where anything not to the left of the PSOE is branded far right?

What is Democracia21 and who is behind it

The project presents itself as a citizens' platform that aims to break polarisation and attract the disillusioned. Miriam González has argued in interviews that «the vote is a power, and you should exercise it for what you truly want», and people close to the party insist this is not a laboratory operation but a social demand. The party is in the middle of collecting endorsements, a procedure in Spain that acts as an entry filter and, for new projects, usually becomes the first battlefield.

The backing of ALDE, the European liberal family, has been flagged as one of the engines of the launch. According to media reports, the party had sounded out González to lead a broad centrist candidacy. The operation recalls others attempted before, under different names and labels, with mixed results.

The record of centrist attempts in Spain

The country has a long tradition of centrist projects born with the ambition of being kingmakers that end up swallowed by the two major parties. Ciudadanos is the most recent and most cited case. The orange party came close to power and shaped governments, but ended up dissolving amid pacts, U-turns and fierce competition for right-wing ground. The history of earlier attempts — UCD, the CDS, the various liberal parties — draws a pattern: the Spanish centre does not hold when the major parties absorb its discourse or when the electorate sees it as a generic brand.

In the most repeated analysis, liberalism has always been expelled or sidelined by the parties claiming to represent it. In the PP, conservative figures have been marketed as liberal while those seen as too liberal were pushed aside. In VOX there was a purge of liberal profiles, with departures still remembered today. In Ciudadanos, the original essence gradually diluted until the party shelved liberalism to accept directives its voters no longer recognised.

The problem with the label: what does it miccionan to be centrist?

The question is not rhetorical. In Spain, the centre is defined more by what it is not than by what it proposes. Some argue that a centrist party is simply one that makes deals with everyone, and that this vagueness is its greatest weakness. Others contend that the centre is a principled position, based on dialogue and moderation, and that its failure is not the idea's fault but that of those who betrayed it.

The debate gets complicated in the details. A party presenting itself as liberal and centrist has to grapple with the contradiction of defending individual freedom while, at the same time, accepting a regulatory framework many voters find suffocating. Criticism from the hard right is explicit: these projects are accused of being disguised «pure left», friends of taxes and regulation. From the left, meanwhile, they are accused of being a Trojan horse to demobilise the tactical vote.

The electoral maths: why the centre never takes off

The arithmetic does not help. In a system with provincial constituencies and an electoral law that favours the major parties, the space for a third way is narrow. A calculation circulating in the debate suggests that, in regions like Madrid, voting for a centrist alternative can cost the left seats without taking any from the right, ultimately benefiting the established blocs. It is the classic tactical-voting argument, which has become the main enemy of every emerging project.

Add the media factor. New parties must contend with scrutiny from television and radio, which in Ciudadanos's case, as recalled in the debate, meant labels like «soft fascism» or hoaxes about alleged fascist salutes. The machinery of traditional parties, with their patronage networks and friendly media, shows no mercy. The result is that the centre ends up perceived as a space for the lukewarm, for people unwilling to take a stand — a stigma that is hard to shake.

The European context and the liberal mirage

The launch of Democracia21 is not an isolated phenomenon. In Europe, liberals have tried to regroup after years of decline, and Spain has been flagged as one of the markets where the centrist space is least covered. The paradox is that, at the same time, European liberal parties are seen by part of the electorate as defenders of an order that has produced inequality and bureaucracy. The «centre» label has become a catch-all ranging from classical liberalism to the mildest social democracy.

Miriam González's own trajectory adds an element of ambiguity. Her profile is more technocratic than political, and her family ties to the PSOE raise suspicions on both flanks. For some, she is a guarantee of moderation; for others, proof that the project was born with the establishment's blessing. That double reading is probably the best summary of the Spanish centre's curse.

What the numbers say and what remains to be seen

As of this discussion, no published polls measure Democracia21's real support. The party is in the endorsement-gathering phase, and its public presentation has been limited to interviews and low-profile events. The promise of «breaking polarisation» sounds good on TV sets, but has not translated into a concrete programme or a visible territorial structure. Critics point out that, for now, the project is more a personal brand than a political organisation.

The question left hanging is whether the Spanish electorate is willing to give a centrist party another chance. The answer will depend on factors ranging from the wear on the major parties to Democracia21's ability to build its own identity without repeating its predecessors' mistakes. Recent history invites scepticism.

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Spanish politics has a complicated relationship with the centre. It seeks it, invokes it, needs it to govern, but rarely votes for it. Democracia21 is one more attempt to fill that gap. And, like all the previous ones, it will have to prove it is not just another mirage.