Against all odds, this Wednesday Podemos and Sumar reached a preliminary agreement to participate jointly in the regional elections in Galicia on February 18, an agreement that includes Izquierda Unida and that must be ratified by the militancy of the party led by Ione Belarra the community. Despite the recent break between Podemos and Yolanda Díaz's coalition in Congress, both forces had resumed contacts in recent days in complete discretion. The pact was announced during an event attended by the government's second vice president in Santiago to present the candidacy led by her parliamentary speaker in the lower house, Marta Lois.
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Díaz has proclaimed that Sumar, making his debut in the regional elections, is “the key to defeating the PP and mobilizing the progressive people of this country.” The Labor leader called for her militancy to “reach every parish in Galicia”. “We don't see these elections as a procedure, we'll go along with everything,” said the chairwoman, who wants to devote herself to the election campaign.
“The funding commission [los 50 perfiles que son la cara visible de Sumar en la comunidad] has just confirmed the preliminary political agreements with Podemos and Izquierda Unida, which must be ratified through their internal processes in order to compete together and strongly in the unified political space of Sumar Galicia,” confirmed the party's spokesman, Paulo Carlos López. in his speech in Santiago.
The turnaround was 180 degrees. After the shock of the separation in Madrid and the refusal of Díaz's side to continue talks, talks between the two parties resumed last weekend, according to negotiating sources. The pact gives a boost to these left-wing organizations, which face a complicated situation in the elections since they are not represented in the Galician parliament, a BNG is on the rise and the PSOE leadership is focused on its candidate. the deputy José Ramón Gomez Besteiro. The elections are also crucial for the vice president, who is playing the premiere of the project at home and with this alliance manages to isolate it, at least for the moment, from the noise and national brawl.
The agreement also separates the break in Congress from what is happening in the territories, paves the way for a coincidence of the Basque elections – scheduled in the coming months – and limits the internal fight to the European elections on June 9, in which Sumar Yes, he will test his strength against a Podemos candidacy led by Irene Montero.
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Belarra's party began its primary election process on Tuesday. To this consultation will now be added the preliminary agreement reached, so that if the bases support the coalition, the person selected by Podemos will not be a candidate for the presidency of the Xunta, despite being on the lists. “It will be militancy that decides,” say Podemos sources, who emphasize that with this movement the leadership is showing “responsibility” towards the citizens of Galicia. The party had already criticized in these weeks that the fact that there were separate candidacies only increased the chances of an absolute majority for the current Xunta president, Alfonso Rueda (PP), and called for understanding.
As EL PAÍS has learned, the alliance sealed with IU and Podemos gives Movemento Sumar (Diaz's newly founded party) the weight of the candidacy. The electoral brand will be Sumar Galicia and the agreement proposal envisages members of Podemos leading the Lugo list, having 2nd place for A Coruña, 3rd place in Ourense and 4th place in Pontevedra. Esquerda Unida, in turn, which ratified the pact on Tuesday, receives 2nd and 5th places for Pontevedra, 3rd and 5th places for A Coruña and 2nd for Ourense and Lugo.
Díaz today avoided any reference to the preliminary agreement with Podemos. The Sumar leader has stressed that the key to change in the Xunta lies in the mobilization of progressive voices, in which her movement plays an important role. “The PP only wins if there is abstention, look at the historical series,” he warned. “If we mobilize like 23-J, the PP will lose in Galicia,” he stressed, appealing to the spirit that led to the right not having a sufficient majority in parliamentary elections that it thought it had won.
The second vice-president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, is convinced that the population will be as angry on February 18 as they were in July. Sumar Galicia candidate Marta Lois highlighted her research career in political science and her feminist beliefs. And Lois, for her part, has emphasized that “there is a progressive vote that only Sumar can mobilize.” With the electoral lead, Rueda's PP intends to “hide the useful policies” of the coalition government, he denounced.
The BNG has expressed fears that the loss of support for the left will thwart the PP's succession in the Xunta. While its leader Ana Pontón warned the contracting parties on Tuesday in an interview on RNE that “it will take its toll on them” if they move “their little battles” to Galicia, this Wednesday it was Rubén Cela, the campaign coordinator, who called “Concentrate” the votes for change on the nationalists. Although “political plurality is always positive,” Cela argued, the division in the left vote “is the one that benefits the People’s Party the most.” The PP candidate and acting president of Xunta has also addressed the matter. According to Rueda, Galicians will have to choose between their party or “a four-party system made up of four parties that strongly criticize each other” on February 18th. A few hours after these words, the agreement between Sumar and Podemos was announced