The early election call in Extremadura, to which is added the latest threat from Junts on blocking government laws, has ended up activating the electoral machinery of a part of the left, which is trying to define as soon as possible the policy of alliances for the general elections, still scheduled for 2027. In a highly unstable context that could precipitate the end of the legislature, and despite no one completely believing in the vetoes As denounced by Carles Puigdemont’s party, the federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, decided this Thursday to “accelerate” the process to form a united list to the left of the PSOE.
Even if Podemos and IU will go together to Extremadura because the coalition that has four deputies in Parliament is a consolidated political space in which Movimiento Sumar (MS), Yolanda Díaz’s party, is not present, it is not expected that Ione Belarra will form in the talks for the national event, who already months ago had nominated the MEP and former minister Irene Montero as his presidential candidate. Before, in any case, the elections in Castilla y León and Andalusia next year, where the chances of an agreement between Podemos and the rest of the formations are reducing, also due to the presence of MS, which former leaders such as Pablo Iglesias have suggested should join the PSOE.
“We will accelerate the processes of configuring this unitary candidacy and not because we think there will be electoral progress, which I believe there won’t be, but because the times are already starting to become urgent,” urged Maíllo this Thursday, just an hour after Junts had announced his intention to torpedo more than 50 government initiatives in Congress, an order to which neither Maíllo nor other spokesmen of the left wanted to give credibility. “Enough with the artificial games,” said the leader and the IU, underlining that only a motion of censure together with PP and Vox could put an end to the legislature, even if the announcement leaves the executive with almost no options to execute the budgets and ties the coalition hand and foot to develop its government program.
“We need to speed up a unitary agreement process which I am quite optimistic about,” said Maíllo, who asks us to “know how to read the historical moment” so that the organizations involved continue “to be part of a government that prevents the entry of the far right into Spain”. Podemos is not present in the Council of Ministers in this legislature, but Movimiento Sumar, Más Madrid, Comunes and IU are. The leader once again supported a process of “broad front and reconnection with some sectors” and although he did not verbalize it this Thursday, Maíllo has always opted for a primary process as a method of choosing the candidate, a formula radically different from that of July 2023, when Yolanda Díaz did not submit to any vote. This, that of the leadership of the future candidacy, is one of the fundamental unknowns in space. Díaz has not yet expressed his desire to run again and, although he continues to be Sumar’s political point of reference, his rating has dropped significantly compared to four years ago. Here too the lack of time plays against any alternative.
Although the parties are constantly talking, talks on the general elections have not yet formally begun, as recognized by several sources from the coalition organisations, in many cases more attentive to their own autonomous processes, as in the case of Compromís in the Valencian Community, which could undergo an electoral advance after the resignation of the president Carlos Mazon. The formation, with a part of the parliamentary group split in the Congress for a few months, is betting on a unified process with the rest of the Sumar parties in which they will lead the ballot. In at least one of the sectors they are also in favor of replicating this alliance in the general elections. But there is nothing advanced.
Beyond some critical voices, even in Más Madrid the management claims to be advancing in dialogue with the rest of the forces. “On our part, there will be no lack of commitment or sense of responsibility. We are aware of the current situation and (of the need) to develop strategies that avoid a right-wing government”, underline party sources.
In Andalusia, IU, Movimiento Sumar, the Andalusian Popular Initiative and Verdes-Equo have long since begun working to repeat the Por Andalucía brand, registered in October at the Ministry of the Interior. Podemos and Alianza Verde are part of their parliamentary group in this legislature, but at the moment those of Belarra do not clarify whether they will be there or not and the community party has expressed itself divided on the topic. From this Thursday and until November 29, the formation has opened the primaries to elect candidates in Extremadura, Andalusia and Castilla y León, as well as the new leadership of Podemos in Aragon. The regional coordinator Irene de Miguel will be featured in Extremadura and, probably, the regional deputy Juan Antonio Delgado will appear in Andalusia. While the calendar is not closed, IU sources in the community assure that the coalition’s candidate should be finalized weeks before the end of the year.
Podemos, after the haste with which they announced the pact with IU in Extremadura, continue to defend their commitment to “broad” agreements and assure that in a scenario of the rise of PP and Vox, the objective is not to go it alone. “The question is, for the IU, whether it wants to stay in projects like Sumar, which serve to ensure that the votes of the left end up being used by the PSOE to do nothing. In this case, we will take care of putting the left back on its feet and when the IU wants to come with us to make these transformational candidacies, like other political forces, we will be very happy”, Irene Montero launched a few days ago on RNE when asked about the alliance in the community in a clear challenge to Yolanda’s party. Díaz, with whom an agreement is excluded for the moment.
