From the left, Mónica García, Yolanda Díaz, Ada Colau, Fátima Hamed Hossain and Mónica Oltra, at a ceremony in Valencia last November.Mònica Torres
No recent news from the broad front of the left whose leadership will fall to the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz. The absence of ostensible action is far from certifying his abandonment or death. This is not the time, the conditions are not in place and it would be counterproductive to get down to work to build a platform that would unite the left for the 2023 elections. These are arguments given by the interlocutors consulted, so as not to specify when the project will begin. . They don't step back; neither forward, for now. Their medium and long-term guarantee is to continue as they are now: to work in politics and politics but not to start the discussion about the structure, acronyms and names. They don't want to be caught up in an election preparation discussion.The objective difficulties in agreeing on the articulation of the project are a powerful reason not to rush.
The spirit of Olympia, which was born on November 13, in that theater in the city of Valencia, lives even though it has not been embodied, indicate regional sources from one of the committed formations. The electoral times that are coming, Castilla y León, on February 13, and Andalusia, probably in June, do not invite optimism from the left. These unflattering expectations advise the promoters of the leftist, progressive or transversal platform not to present themselves immediately in the form of an electoral option, as the first sign of identity.
The echoes of the "president", with whom Yolanda Díaz was welcomed in that event in the Valencian capital, have not died down. With her were, and continue, the vice president of the Valencian Community, from Compromís, Mónica Oltra, the leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, winner on the left in the elections in the Madrid elections last May; the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, from En Comú Podem, and the spokesperson and leader of the movement For the Dignity of Ceuta, Fátima Hamed. Each one continues in its mission, glued to politics in the field that corresponds to it. That’s what it’s all about.
While the negotiations on structures and position on the lists arrive seriously, the polls place Unidos Podemos in a not exactly ascending position but with Díaz in an excellent valuation. The Más País project, led by Íñigo Errejón, does not rise and even falls slightly compared to its 2019 results. Its triumph in Madrid, with Mónica García at the helm, had a lot to do with the strength of the candidate who connected with a broad swath of the progressive electorate and sent the PSOE to third place.
The electoral advance in Castilla y León has Citizens as the sound voice of the protest, not finding the slightest justification for the breakdown of the coalition government. The rest of the parties speculate on the error of the polls to dislodge from the environment the demoscopic forecasts of a colossal victory for the PP and a very notable representation of Vox. The PSOE, always according to the polls, will not do well, being far from being the first political force as it did in 2019. United We can obtain two minutes. These premature elections interrupt the plan of Ione Belarra, leader of Podemos and Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, to grow with the focus on that region.
Not only will Castilla y León mark 2022 as an electoral year; Andalusia will be next. In January, talks will begin between the three forces on the left - outside the PSOE - United We Can, Adelante Andalucía and Andaluces Levantaos, to study whether there can be an electoral unity agreement. The latter includes Más País, by Íñigo Errejón, Andalucía por Sí and Iniciativa de Pueblo Andaluz. Those elections point to a resounding victory for the PP with the complement of Vox to govern. This reality does not indicate at all that it is sufficient incentive for these three parties of the Andalusian left to concur together. The fights have been bitter and relentless.
With this electoral panorama, Yolanda Díaz's project, driven by the policies that met in Valencia, will remain in the field of political discussion.
This is not the time to open a negotiation in which discrepancies of program, strategy and people will emerge.
Only the leadership of Yolanda Díaz is unquestionable.
It does maintain its plan of "talking" with the country.
Without acronyms and without names.
