The announcement

Miriam González, a lawyer who leads the party Democracia 21, said on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, that Ciudadanos and the Unión de Ciudadanos Independientes (UCIN) will join her list for the general election on 29 November. She made the announcement in a video posted on social media, addressed especially to Ciudadanos members, whom she said their former leadership had let down. The joint candidacy is called Democracia para el siglo XXI. Both allied parties will stand only in Madrid and Barcelona, where the party believes winning seats is easier. Ciudadanos members received an email on the night of Tuesday, 13 October, informing them of the deal.

In the video she closed by saying that the project has room for anyone willing to work with it:

“What matters is not where each person comes from, but where we are going together.”

Background and the launch

Democracia 21 was presented publicly on Saturday, 10 October, at the Domo 360 venue in Madrid. Attendance figures differ by outlet: El Mundo counted more than 350 people at the presentation, while ABC cited 700 according to the organisation. Former members of Unión, Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) had already joined, among them ex-deputy Rafael Calduch and former MEPs Fernando Maura and Beatriz Becerra. Ciudadanos did not stand in the general election of 23 July 2023, a decision taken amid its internal crisis. In August, European liberals were reported to be weighing a centrist list with González at its head, a plan she neither confirmed nor denied in an interview. The early election called by Pedro Sánchez caught the new party before it had built a territorial network, and it had registered the Democracia 21 brand only over the summer.

The signature hurdle

Because the parties involved have no parliamentary representation, the coalition has to gather the citizen endorsements (avales) that electoral law requires. It is holding street events in Madrid and Barcelona and running a drive for new members and financial backing. González also thanked more than 30 parties across Spain that, she said, have not yet formalised an agreement but are "giving everything" to help the project succeed. The deadline for registering coalitions with the Junta Electoral Central is a little over 48 hours away, so the paperwork is tight.

Reaction

Albert Rivera, the former Ciudadanos leader who now works as a television analyst, appeared on Espejo Público with Susana Griso and urged voters to focus on parties able to govern. He said:

“This is the moment for the vote to be safe, and we cannot gamble.”

Rivera said that three seats were missing in 2023 for change to happen, and he criticised the government for being unable to pass budgets, tying the early election to recent PSOE scandals. He described the left-wing grouping Frente Amplio as driven by a scramble for posts, a game he said breeds rejection among citizens. He added that nobody would be surprised if he said he would not vote for Pedro Sánchez, but that whoever wins must be pushed to work.

Next steps

The coalition stands in only two constituencies, so its outcome depends on gathering the required endorsements and winning seats in Madrid or Barcelona. The alliance could also continue into future municipal and European contests. The timeline below sets out the sequence so far, from the Saturday launch to the 29 November vote.