One of the most amazing take-homes of Sunday's Catalan elections was the 78% drop in support for liberal party Cs from 2017. Why did it happen? There has been lots of talk of its "turn to the right," but I don't think this is true at all. 1/6

Cs' policies have always been in line with those of its sister parties in Renew Europe / ALDE. Instead, I think it is a stylistic issue. The party's symbol - a heart with Catalan, Spanish and European flags - exemplified its rejection of identity politics. 2/6

In 2018, though, Cs' ex-leader Albert Rivera created a new platform to promote Spanish civic nationalism / patriotism. It dropped the Catalan and European flags and just promoted the national one. I think this was a huge mistake. 3/6

On one hand, Cs was a home for centrists who had begun life on the left and are still socially progressive. Seeing liberals wave Spanish flags around made them uneasy. When Rivera shared a platform with hard-right party Vox, many of them felt sickened. 4/6

On the other hand, Cs was also home to centrists who had begun life on the right. Encouraging them to wave flags around and describe themselves as civic nationalists was a huge mistake. Vox was able to offer a more red-blooded version and it made a pitch for their votes. 5/6

The party's new leader Inés Arrimadas resurrected its old three-flag symbol for the 2021 election, but by then it was too late. The flag-waving had alienated left-leaning centrists but been too weak for right-leaning centrists. It was hit by record abstentions. Style matters! 6/6