Podemos will not take part in Galicia's elections on February 18 in a coalition with Sumar. The party's base rejected the preliminary agreement reached between its regional leadership and Yolanda Díaz's platform with 62.36% of the vote, according to official data released on Saturday. The binding result closes the door to a unified candidacy of the political space, which became the leading opposition force with the En Marea brand in 2016 and was expelled from the regional parliament four years later due to internal disputes. The left's split into up to four candidates threatens to hamper the chances of wresting an absolute majority from the popular Alfonso Rueda, and events in Galicia could impact negotiations for Basque elections to be held in the coming months.
A total of 2,513 people took part in the consultation, which took place between this Thursday and Friday. The party does not provide figures for the total count, but 2,764 registered voters from Galicia took part in the vote on the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez last November, 200 more than before. By rejecting the pact principle, the militants demonstrate their unease with Díaz's party and Pablo Iglesias, former leader of Podemos, continues to prove to be a figure with great influence among the party's base. After the national leadership avoided taking a position on the expediencies of the alliance with the Vice President's Movement and left the decision to the registered, the former Secretary General published in his digital media (Diario Red) a very critical editorial about the primary agreement, in which he advocated rejecting this and directly supporting a candidacy of the nationalist BNG and excluding his own organization from the elections. The proposal caused a stir and sparked an internal debate.
After learning the results, sources in the national leadership are now ruling out this option and assuring that they are starting work on the campaign. “In Podemos the important decisions are made by the people. “A large majority of registered voters have said loud and clear that the transformative project of Podemos must be present in the next elections in Galicia,” its top official Ione Belarra confirmed online. In addition, the bases have already elected their representatives for 18-F in primaries. In this second vote, the list of the official candidate Isabel Faraldo won with 41.66%. Support, compared to that of his rival Charo Varela (34.66%). The blank vote reached 23.68%. In recent days, the former A Coruña city councilor had expressed confusion about whether Podemos should compete with Sumar or not. Belarra congratulated the winner. “You are the best candidate,” he wrote. “The people of Podemos want our project to be respected. She is proud of who we are, what we have done and what we can do in the future. We are the only organization where the people rule, not the leaders. Yes, you can,” he adds. The formation is expected to be represented in a coalition with Alianza Verde, as the regional coordinator Borja San Ramón and the Environmental Party announced this Saturday. “We must work to build a green, feminist and progressive alternative for all Galicians,” said X (formerly Twitter), the organization of former MP Juan López de Uralde.
“We regret the decision. We did what we had to do. There is a historic opportunity to free Galicia from paralysis and bring new life to the Xunta. And we are for it and only for it,” Sumar sources from the community briefly emphasize, preferring to keep a low profile and not fuel the controversy any further. From Izquierda Unida, which will go with the platform, the interim coordinator after the departure of Alberto Garzón, Ismael González, has indirectly questioned the decision by justifying the unified candidacy as an option, “the concerns of the Galician people in a progressive government to convert”. of change”. The person responsible for the federal organization of the IU advocates continuing to work “in this direction”, with “responsibility and arrogance, convinced that the rights of the working class are above all corporate interests or internal concerns,” he emphasizes in contrast to Belarra's party.
Those around the Podemos leadership in Madrid privately admit that they expected a negative result. The co-founder of the party Juan Carlos Monedero, who a day earlier defended his yes to the candidacy with Sumar, although he described the preliminary agreement as a “bid trap” and considered it a “failure” that there were four lists on the left, has this Position also taken. tomorrow: “I have the feeling that this was the result wanted by whoever made an offer that was difficult for the Podemos militancy to accept.” Too much accumulated pain. Look closely and keep paddling. The alternative: kill.”
In Podemos the important decisions are made by the people. A large majority of registered voters have said loud and clear that Podemos' transformative project must be present in the next elections in Galicia. Congratulations to @isabelfaraldo and team, you are the best candidate. https://t.co/mk98Z71Wrk
— Ione Belarra (@ionebelarra) December 30, 2023
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Although the political agenda is halfway through due to the Christmas holidays, the week was intense for the political space. After Ione Belarra's five deputies broke with Díaz's coalition in Congress in early December – which led to the suspension of negotiations – no one had an alliance for the elections in Galicia. However, last Wednesday afternoon, Sumar surprised by announcing a preliminary agreement with Podemos and Esquerda Unida at the same event that introduced Marta Lois as candidate for the Xunta presidency. The next day, the editorial in Iglesias' digital newspaper unsettled the members of the new platform and fears of possible rejection spread among the ranks of Podemos Galicia.
Although the party's leadership from Madrid has defended the organization's autonomy in the territory, no one had questioned Iglesias' position and the leadership recognized that there was a debate about how to proceed in elections that seem very complicated most comfortable. . In the PP they assume an almost absolute majority for Rueda, the president of Xunta; The BNG is strong with Ana Pontón, and the PSOE is absolutely committed to its candidate José Ramón Gómez Besteiro. Podemos is now an extra-parliamentary force, just like Esquerda Unida or Sumar, which did not exist four years ago. It is also a crucial appointment for the government's second vice president, launching her project in some regional elections. Although obtaining representation would be enough to save the furniture, a bad result would result in the platform being damaged before the electoral cycle begins, with the Euskadi elections and the European elections in June, the Podemos in the calendar as the big ones Elections marked in red have battle to measure forces. A battle that will most likely be fought with Irene Montero as candidate, just as the party celebrates the tenth anniversary of its existence with five MEPs in Spanish politics.
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