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Ciudadanos (C)

The center-right party Ciudadanos was established in Catalonia as an opposition to separatist forces. Although Ciudadanos are new to national politics they had held seats in the Catalan parliament since 2005. The Catalan-based Ciudadanos (Citizens), dubbed the “Podemos of the right” by the media, made the leap from regional to national politics with aplomb. Formerly known as the Ciutadans, the party is expected to attract votes from the traditional bases of the more established PSOE and PP with its conservative manifesto and savvy use of social media.

Its focus on battling corruption while proposing liberal economic policies led many to label it "the Podemos of the right." This is a description that Ciudadanos's candidate for regional premier of Madrid, Ignacio Aguado, roundly rejected. "We propose a change, but a sensible change," he said, speaking shortly before his party's rally in Alcala de Henares. "We are a sensible choice for change. Podemos from my point of view is a political party that is proposing a break with the past. It's looking back to the past. We prefer to look ahead to the future and try to understand the global economy and global society."

At the age of 36, in the December 2015 election party leader Albert Rivera was the youngest ever candidate in contention for the office of prime minister and he has almost a decade’s worth of experience in regional politics. Rivera has steered the party to being a force in national politics, with a manifesto that purports to cut across the left-right divide that is attracting voters from both sides of the spectrum.

Rivera delivered a powerful message to his electoral rivals. "Some don't understand what is happening in Spain - we're not just facing an election day, we're facing a new era ," he says. "Whoever can't understand that isn't capable of leading the change. Spain is not doing well, it's only doing well for a few." This promise by a generation of young Spanish politicians to deliver a "new era" has already altered the country's political landscape.

While the old guards, People’s Party and the Socialist fully supported NATO and the foreign presence on Spanish soil, the new business-friendly Ciudadanos party came out in support Spain’s membership of NATO.

The party has a pro-European Union stance and promises to maintain the country's strong social welfare system while cutting taxes. Such pledges appeal to those who would normally vote for Rajoy’s conservative PP. Ciudadanos also supported the merging of small town councils and called for the elimination of the Senate, a separate parliamentary chamber representing Spain's provinces which is widely seen as having little or no necessary legislative function. Rivera, like his counterpart Iglesias, also called for a new generation of transparent politicians amid recent corruption scandals that have rocked the government.