Olona registers 'Walking Together' for Spain's July 23 election

Olona registers Walking Together, leaving Vox behind

Macarena Olona has registered a new formation, Walking Together, with the Ministry of Interior, the first formal step to run in the July 23 general elections. She did this after renouncing her candidacy for regional and municipal elections, a move she justified with a phrase summarizing her strategy: "I said I would not run in regional and municipal elections. No one could attribute a flop to me. Done." The state lawyer, who was Vox's most recognizable face in Congress, thus returns to the frontline on her own.

The announcement fell like a bucket of cold water among those who voted for her and those who detest her. There is no middle ground. The majority reaction has been bewilderment: a party with a name that sounds like a catechism group, a neighborhood NGO, or a sportswear brand. And the question hovering over everything remains the same: Who exactly does Macarena Olona represent?

Party name becomes immediate target of ridicule

Walking Together. The choice has not gone unnoticed. In the first hours, comparisons multiplied: from a school confirmation group to a dog association, passing through a youth-ecologist collective or a foundation with the same name. A quick search on Google Play or in the registry of associations returns several entities already using that designation, which has fueled mockery about the project's originality.

Some argue that the name is irrelevant and that what matters is the political capital Olona accumulated during her years as an MP. Against this weighs a hard-to-refute argument: outside the political bubble, no one associates that name with anything. And even less so with a project having real chances of obtaining representation.

Does Olona have her own electoral space?

The doubt is not minor. The right considers her an unprincipled turncoat; the left sees her as the embodiment of everything they hate. This double rejection leaves a difficult niche to define: disillusioned Vox voters who are not comfortable with the PP, or simply personalist trinc of a specific figure. Recent Spanish history is full of parties born with this profile and died with fewer votes than signatures needed to form them.

The precedent of other similar-profile electoral adventures is devastating. Projects led by media figures, with constant presence in press and social networks, ended with results that didn't reach half a dozen counted votes. The difference between having an audience and having an electorate is the same as between being trending topic and being elected.

Electoral system and seat calculation

The D'Hondt method is back at the center of the debate. With provincial constituencies and a 3% threshold in each, a small party needs to concentrate votes in specific territories to scrape a seat. Walking Together has no known territorial structure, cadres, or declared financing. Running in general elections without any of that is, at best, an act of faith.

Some calculate that the real goal is not to win seats but to subtract votes from Vox in tight constituencies. If confirmed, this calculation would make Olona a useful instrument for the left without her acknowledging it. It is the classic paradox of strategic voting: the one who runs to divide ends up dividing their own side.

Who pays for the campaign and with what structure?

The economic question is the one nobody answers. A new party needs endorsements, headquarters, staff, and a campaign that costs millions in general elections. There is no public information on who finances Walking Together, nor on whether there is a minimum structure behind it. Registration with the Ministry of Interior is only the first step; the rest is an unknown.

The parallelism with other personalist formations is inevitable. Parties that ran with great media deployment ended dissolved due to lack of votes and funding. The difference is that Olona has something those didn't: a recognizable name and a base of loyal trinc on social media. Whether that is enough for anything remains to be seen.

Electoral calendar and the July 23 date

July 23 is the fixed date for the general elections. Registering a party on time is essential to run, but not sufficient. Candidacies, endorsements, and documentation must be submitted within legal deadlines. Olona has completed the first step; the trinc ones are more demanding and less media-friendly.

The question hanging in the air is the usual one: For what purpose? To influence, to take revenge on Vox, to negotiate a position, or simply to stay in the spotlight? Nobody knows. Nor has she clarified it. And that ambiguity, which sometimes works in politics, here looks too much like a lack of plan.