Despite leading a political party with significant electoral prospects, Silvia Orriols—and, in general, the leaders of Aliança Catalana—have a modest public presence. This contrasts sharply with politicians from other parties who spend their days posting on social media and strive for omnipresence in the press. In the case of Aliança Catalana, is this an oversight or a deliberate strategy? It seems that, despite being risky, the gamble is already paying off. A political party aspiring to consolidate its hegemonic power can choose between two strategies: clearly define its platform or become an abstract concept, open to interpretation by voters according to their own expectations. This second, seemingly paradoxical path can be effective in societies where diverse interests make it difficult to craft a single narrative that satisfies everyone. Indefiniteness then becomes an asset, because it is not an absence of content but a magic mirror in which each citizen sees their problems and aspirations reflected. Marked by volatility and immediacy, current politics tends to reward those actors capable of generating strong emotions, rather than offering concrete and feasible solutions, which are naively taken for granted. The diffuse, blurred idea functions as a symbol: it doesn't say exactly how it will materialize, but it suggests that it can become the vehicle for change, or security, or prosperity, that each person desires in their own way. Ambiguity allows the same slogan to be interpreted differently by a businessperson seeking stability, by a young person earning an insufficient salary, or by someone who is simply very angry about things that happened in 2017. The strength of the party-idea, then, lies in its ability to avoid contradicting any of these interpretations, maintaining its place within a specific space.
The strategy we're discussing has a psychological basis: we tend to fill in the gaps with our own expectations. When a message is vague but simultaneously presented as a heart-wrenching manifesto, each person adapts it to their own experiences and desires. The party isn't selling. one It doesn't offer a program, but rather a symbolic container that each person fills as they wish. The result can translate into a stronger emotional attachment, because the voter perceives that this party, which in reality says nothing, is speaking directly to them. himeven though in reality it only offered her the melody of a song without lyrics. The vagueness thus becomes a form of—let's say— political privacyEach person sees their own convictions reflected back at them, whispered in their ear. There is also a strategic advantage: ambiguity allows for circumventing internal and external conflicts. When a party has an overly clear platform and a leader who communicates it more or less regularly and clearly, it can exclude sectors that don't rigidly share its ideology. In contrast, an abstract strike can integrate diverse, even contradictory, sensibilities under a single umbrella. In a saturated media environment, the simplicity of an abstract message—a short slogan, or even a simple gesture—has a greater capacity to resonate than a detailed program. Politics thus becomes a curious exercise in managing subjective interpretations.
The strategy we're discussing carries risks. The lack of a clear vision can lead to frustration when it comes time to govern, or to collaborate with a government, and voters discover that their respective subjective perceptions of the vague idea are mutually incompatible. This, however, can also be managed: while the mobilization phase lasts, the vague idea is sufficient to gradually accumulate power. Ultimately, the vagueness isn't exactly a flaw in this specific context, but rather a transitional stage for trying to build majorities. Is this what's happening in the case of Aliança Catalana? I wouldn't bet on it: for now, we're only talking about opinion polls without an immediate electoral horizon. In any case, today politics is no longer so much the art of governing as the art of suggesting, of evoking, of allowing everyone to visualize the future (and the past) in their own way. Herein lies a striking paradox: the more vague a party's program and the more inaudible the voice of its leaders becomes, the more illusorily concrete and clear it appears in the mind of each individual...
