In an extremely complicated week for the Government, with the publication of the latest UCO report on The Cerdan case and the condemnation of the State Attorney General, Movimiento Sumar, change the pace and activate the machinery of the electoral cycle that will open this December in Extremadura. The party of supporters of Vice President Yolanda Díaz, the majority in Sumar’s parliamentary group in Congress, gave the green light this Saturday to its roadmap for the next elections. In one of the six resolutions approved at the political conference held in Madrid, the party supports the promotion of a “stable” coalition on the left that goes beyond the merely electoral alliance and develops a “common” work and project. The organization focuses on young people, launches a call for a cultural battle in the digital world and in the media and proposes measures such as a basic income of 550 euros per month between 18 and 21 years old.
Faced with a space to the left of the PSOE now divided in two in the national panorama after the dissolution of Podemos at the beginning of the legislature, the organization coordinated by Lara Hernández recovers the demands of the initial Sumar and is committed to “building” a shared political project composed of a “plural, democratic and cooperative” left. Among the principles that must articulate this space is “recognizing and guaranteeing” the participation of all political, territorial and social sensitivities, “articulated according to common rules”. Furthermore, that each organization maintains “its own identity”, but shares “objectives, principles and mechanisms” of operation; that it is built with “respect for the realities of each nation and territory, but with a common political vocation” and with the aim of “consolidating a stable political entity”.
To this end, the Sumar Movement contemplates four axes, starting from the maintenance and strengthening of the Party Table which already functions today in Sumar as “the first phase of a confederal space of decision and coordination, where all the forces that compose it and the spaces” that derive from it are represented. The party claims that this table should be given a mandate to build spaces for “common reflection and action at all levels” and to prepare a proposal for a “common candidacy” with the aim of “gaining institutional power and renewing the government in 2027”. Secondly, the training mentions the consolidation of “daily work” which prepares the ground for a future “constituent phase”, through “campaigns, political conferences, territorial meetings and open forums that allow the direct involvement of militancy and people who sympathize with all organizations”, according to the approved text. The objective is to move towards a “common culture” of the entire space.
The Sumar Movement is also committed to ensuring that at state, regional and local levels there is “a single shared political entity, avoiding electoral competition and guaranteeing both joint representation of space and cooperation with the most consolidated territorial processes and with greater hegemony in their territory”. Finally, the text reinforces the idea of the “vocation of permanence” over time of this “organized common” space.
A good portion of Sumar’s voters in the general elections come from the electorate of Más Madrid, Compromís, Comunes, Més per Mallorca and Chunta Aragonesista, organizations established for years in each of their communities. In 2024, when Sumar held its founding assembly with the participation of several parties from the left coalition, the intention was to build an organization with a leadership that included actors from each party. But the intention of Díaz’s group, then elected general coordinator, was to control everything and absorb the rest under the common brand, something the parties refused for months. After the poor results of the European elections, which led to the vice president of the government taking a step back, they ended up getting back on their feet and the project was shelved. Last March, the Sumar Movement elected new leadership, already assuming its role as a modest organization and more within the coalition.
Rights against inequalities
In another of the approved resolutions, the Sumar Movement defends the conquest of “new rights” as the best way to fight inequality, which is, the party claims, “a vote factory for anti-politics and the best ally of the right”.
Among the priorities, training includes access to housing – the main problem for citizens – but also universal allowance for children’s education, the reduction of the working day to 32 hours – Congress overturned the Ministry of Labor’s proposal in September -, workers’ rights against the exploitation of artificial intelligence and a tax reform.
For younger people it promotes voting from the age of 16, free public transport and a youth income of 550 euros per month for three years from 18 to 21 “as a starting point” for the creation of a “citizen’s income for the entire society”.
At a time when polls indicate a preference among younger people towards Vox, the participation of this group is a “political and social priority” for the Movimiento Sumar. The party calls for a cultural battle in the digital world, in the media and on the networks to combat “hate speech”; “claim” spaces such as universities, study centers and streets; and “reoccupy public space with organisation, action and responsibility”.
The unknown of unity
The main unknown, in any case, remains which parties are willing to enter the alliance. Podemos, which will compete with the IU in Extremadura, has doubled its bet by nominating Irene Montero in the general elections, and has not yet decided on Andalusia. The left-wing coalition of the community made official this Friday the candidacy for the presidency of the Council of the federal coordinator of the IU, Antonio Maíllo, who did not participate in the primaries, but was nominated by mutual agreement of all the parties. His election is a strong bet and predicts that all the space will be dedicated to the elections scheduled for June, where after the screening crisis, Juan Manuel Moreno may encounter difficulties in reconfirming his absolute majority.
