Miriam González launches Democracia21 with housing and political reform at heart of election bid

The new party was presented in Madrid on Saturday and intends to contest the Madrid and Barcelona constituencies, before expanding across Spain in future elections. González, an international and EU trade lawyer, is seeking to build support around cooperation between political opponents, stronger democratic institutions and practical solutions to everyday problems. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez calls a general election in Spain for 29 November.

Its debut comes during a turbulent period in Spanish politics. Socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the snap election after parliament rejected measures aimed at tackling the housing crisis. Opinion polls suggest that the right-wing People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox could together secure a parliamentary majority. ALSO READ: Spain’s Ceuta crisis: Polls show widespread disapproval of Sánchez as PP and Vox pass 50%.

González criticised a political landscape dominated by ‘two rigid blocs with nothing to foster consensus’, urging Spaniards to ‘set aside our ideological differences, to stand united, and to work together to safeguard democracy and modernise the country’.

Although her appeal to moderate voters has prompted comparisons with the failed Ciudadanos (Cs), González has resisted defining her project as centre-left, centrist or centre-right. She has previously described herself as ‘liberal in the British sense’, but says Democracia21 is intended to bring people together across political divisions rather than recreate an earlier party.

Housing proposals and criticism of both political camps

Housing is a central plank of Democracia21’s programme, with González arguing that responsibility for shortages and unaffordable prices extends across different levels of government.

She blamed both the governing coalition and the opposition, which controls most regional administrations, describing their politicians as ‘a cost, a burden for the country’. She accused them of failing to develop land for housing and allowing administrative obstacles to drive up construction costs.

‘They haven’t used the permits to build housing; instead, they’ve used them to line the coffers of their city councils. They’ve imposed so many regulations, many of them absurd, that they’ve doubled the price per square metre of construction and have made it almost impossible for us to build affordable housing,’ she told supporters.

The remarks come amid continuing protests over housing shortages, rising rents and evictions. Anger intensified following the death on Tuesday 6 October of an 87-year-old woman who had been evicted from her home. ALSO READ: Vigils and protests in Madrid after death of housing campaign symbol Maricarmen.

Housing responsibilities are shared across Spain’s public authorities. The central government can introduce legislation and national programmes involving subsidies and incentives, while regional governments and municipalities oversee much of their implementation, alongside broader urban planning.

González proposes a national programme to build new neighbourhoods, supported by agreements across party lines that would give projects legal certainty for ten years. She also wants to remove all housing-related taxes for people under 35.

Another proposal would use €10 billion in unspent Next Generation EU funds to establish a sovereign fund for protected and affordable housing. She has urged Sánchez and PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to negotiate with Brussels over redirecting that money.

Presenting her approach as one focused on solving problems, she said: ‘I won’t use it to pit one group against another, no, I’ll simply fix it.’

Institutional reform, immigration and the economy

Democracia21’s proposals also target political influence over public institutions and the size of the apparatus surrounding elected officials.

González advocates cutting the number of political advisers by 90% and strengthening recruitment and advancement in the civil service on the basis of merit and ability. Her programme includes changes to the General Council of the Judiciary, parliamentary accountability for the Public Prosecutor’s Office and specialist courts to deal with corruption.

She also proposes abolishing special legal privileges and reducing public subsidies for political parties and foundations.

To improve contact between representatives and the public, González wants parliamentarians to meet constituents ‘at least every two weeks’, drawing on the British model.

On immigration, she describes migration as an asset for Spain while maintaining that the state must determine the conditions governing entry and departure. Her position combines rejection of xenophobic rhetoric with a call for decisions about who can enter the country, how and when.

Her education proposals include more flexible university degrees and greater access to work placements. In the economy, she favours removing obstacles to entrepreneurship.

From España Mejor to electoral politics

Born in 1968 in Olmedo, Valladolid, González is the daughter of two teachers and the granddaughter of farmers. She studied in Belgium with the help of a scholarship and went on to develop an international legal career.

At the launch, she said she felt ‘a monumental debt’ to Spain for the opportunities she had received.

She founded the charity Inspiring Girls and subsequently led the Spanish civic platform España Mejor, from which her move into party politics developed.

González spent many years in the United Kingdom with her husband, Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader who served as deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015 in David Cameron’s coalition government.

Clegg attended Saturday’s presentation, as did former figures from Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), including Rafael Calduch, Fernando Maura and Beatriz Becerra.

By concentrating its first election campaign on Madrid and Barcelona, Democracia21 is limiting its immediate electoral reach while seeking an initial parliamentary foothold.

González hopes to attract voters who feel alienated by the existing choices and are tired of casting their ballots ‘while holding their nose’. With less than two months before polling day, the party faces the challenge of turning its promises on housing, political accountability and cooperation into electoral support.