Recent general and regional Spanish elections have seen the electoral success of two new parties: Unity Progress and Democracy (UPyD) in Spain and in the Basque Country, and Citizens-The Party of the Citizenry (Cs) in Catalonia. Both parties share some characteristics. The raison d’être of both parties is to advocate for the defence of the Spanish language and culture against the policies undertaken by the regional governments of the culturally differentiated regions in Spain. Therefore, both developed relatively close new ethno-nationalist discourses combined with social-liberal positions. Unsurprisingly, as they competed for similar segments of the electorate, they have had a turbulent relationship. There’s a thin line between love and hate. Another important resemblance comes from the intensive use of new technologies to engage, organize and mobilize supporters and voters. This paper will analyze the online activity done by and around these parties to test the role played by the new technologies in their emergence. This paper will combine data from a content analysis of the parties’ websites, blogospheres, and social networks platforms along with data from electoral surveys in order to asses the level of mobilization efforts done through the new technologies and their impact among the voters. From the political impact of ICTs literature, the studied cases can endorse the increased pluralism hypothesis. From the political parties’ field, these cases can contribute to the growing literature on the causes of the emergence of new party families in Europe such as the green parties or the right-wing populist parties.
