Former En Comú Podem MP Jaume Asens is already negotiating on Sumar’s behalf with former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and Vice-President Yolanda Díaz to facilitate the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez and allow the coalition government to revive, sources close to the negotiations say. This morning, Junts per Catalunya secretary-general Jordi Turull reiterated that the price his formation is asking to make investiture possible again for the socialist candidate is “amnesty and self-determination,” some demands Sumar’s campaign spokesman Ernest Urtasun declined to comment on in a news conference on Monday. Barely 12 hours after the result of 23-J was announced, the formation led by Yolanda Díaz has called on the PSOE to start negotiating the program and structure of the next government “now”. The message from the second vice president’s team is clear: there is only one possible inauguration and they are getting to work.
In the left-wing coalition, they believe that the record of the general elections, in which opposition from the PSOE and Sumar thwarted the majority of the PP and Vox, opens the possibility of a new coalition government being formed. This circumstance, according to Sumar sources, forces them to conduct a dialogue beforehand “from a position of responsibility, respect for the results and recognition between the formations”. “We are aware that Spain is a pluralistic country and that we are in the best position to negotiate with all spaces called for mutual understanding,” party sources say.
Sumar begins his contacts with the Catalan formations, through whom they want to know their starting positions and explore all the possibilities of an agreement, they explain. ERC and Junts each have seven deputies. After the July 23 election, their representation has more or less declined, but both the ERC and Puigdemont’s party are vital in the attempt to re-form a PSOE-Sumar coalition government. After learning of the vote, the Esquerra Republicana showed that it wanted to maintain its support for Sánchez and urged its junt rivals to do the same, through a grand independence deal with the PSOE that avoids a repeat of the elections and includes common goals. Junts was less clear in his demands: “We will not make Sánchez president for nothing,” said his candidate Miriam Nogueras. In an intervention before the party’s federal leadership, the socialist leader ruled out the possibility of a re-election. “This democracy will find the formula for governability,” he declared, according to PSOE reports Jose Marcos.
For these talks, Sumar has chosen former En Comú Podem MP Jaume Asens, who stands out for “his knowledge of the political reality of Catalonia, as well as his good relations with many places that are called upon to understand each other”, which she believes will make reaching an agreement “easier”. Asens, 51, announced his retirement from active politics just over a month ago as his group was preparing the lists for the general election. His career as a lawyer and politician was marked by building bridges between Podemos, the community and the independentists. In 2014, he was part of the small group around Ada Colau that founded Guanyem, the first brand the Commons participated in before running for the 2015 Barcelona elections. During Colau’s first term, he served as Deputy Mayor for Citizenship, Participation and Transparency Rights. He led the lists for the 2019 general election in Barcelona, defending as a “sovereignty party” that only the commoner would be able to free the prisoners for independence, and served as president of the United We Can parliamentary group. One of his greatest achievements was the elaboration of the formula for reforming the crime of hate speech, which government partners pushed ahead with late last year.
Sumar’s spokesman Ernest Urtasun gives a press conference at the training headquarters in Madrid this Monday. JJ Guillén (EFE)
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“Just a possible investiture”
The election campaign spokesman Ernest Urtasun called on the Socialists with 122 MPs on Monday to negotiate “now” about the program and the structure of the next government. “There is only one possible investiture. Mr. Feijóo and Vox do not have a majority to form it,” the Sumar leader stressed at noon. “We are already working on all issues related to a program and structure of government and we want to ask the PSOE to start work now,” the spokesman said. “We will see the content in the next few days,” he insisted, then reiterated that his formation had developed a “very ambitious” election program and he intended to “reflect” this in the government program. Sumar attaches particular importance to issues such as controlling food prices, rents or reducing working hours.
Urtasun was more than satisfied with the seats achieved in that 23-Y and rejected the comparison with United We Can’s 35 MPs in 2019. “It’s the first time we’re presenting ourselves in the elections, which I want to emphasize in an important way, and I think we’ve achieved results that will allow us to move forward.” What happened yesterday is a success, for us it’s a starting point, not a destination.” ‘Scenario’ of the election campaign that proved the winner to be the right wing.
Belarra breaks truce with Díaz: “The strategy didn’t work”
It took Podemos less than 24 hours to break the truce with Sumar. In a four-minute video released to the press this afternoon, Secretary General Ione Belarra was critical of the formation’s election results. However, the social rights minister, who was with Díaz at Sumar’s headquarters on election night, said this Monday that the strategy pursued by the vice president had not worked. “Sumar leaves more than 700,000 votes and many seats compared to United We Can’s worst result. The strategy of turning away from feminism [en referencia al veto de Irene Montero] and making Podemos invisible didn’t work.”
Spain gave us time, but now we must use this time to re-strengthen the coalition, take care of the multinational majority and defend feminism. pic.twitter.com/9ii70wNZBX
—Ione Belarra (@ionebarra) July 24, 2023
Belarra recognized that progressive citizens felt “relieved”. “We stopped them,” he added, referring to the hypothetical PP-Vox pact all the polls alluded to, and he took the opportunity to justify his role: “If there’s an opportunity today to reconfirm the government, it’s thanks to the people who have mobilized over the past decade.” In the tides and in the union struggles […] and to Podemos, who acted with enormous responsibility and generosity despite being forced upon us an agreement that no other political force would have accepted.”
In the final distribution of seats within the group, Movimiento Sumar remains the strongest party with 10 MPs. Podemos, Izquierda Unida and Catalunya en Comú follow with five each. Compromís gets two, and Más Madrid and Más País get one each, as do Chunta Aragonesista and Més.
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