The spokesperson for United We Can in the Assembly, Alejandra Jacinto.A.

Perez Meca (Europa Press)

With the elections ahead, there are no friends or allies.

We can face the elections on May 28 in the Community of Madrid knowing that it is competing against two other left-wing parties (Más Madrid and PSOE) for which the polls unanimously predict a better result.

At the same time, the polls confirm that the campaign will mark if it finally manages to add 5% of the votes that allow entry into the regional Chamber, and guarantees seven deputies.

In this context, Alejandra Jacinto's party has seen an opportunity in the open negotiation with Vice President Yolanda Díaz to incorporate both Podemos and Más País, the national brand of Más Madrid, into the Sumar platform.

So,

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"We are focused on Madrid, on facing the challenge that lies ahead and that we effectively change the government of Madrid and have a progressive coalition government," said Jacinto, who is also a national co-spokesperson for Podemos, during a press conference in the Assembly of Madrid.

“Sumar is a process at the national level.

We have to do the work that we have ahead of us here, in Madrid”.

"We are one hundred percent with Madrid," García replied in an appearance after the weekly meeting of the Board of Spokespersons.

“I have a very good relationship with Yolanda Díaz.

Of course I will accompany her.

It is very good news for the progressive space that it takes this step forward, and I will be there to support it ”.

Podemos marks ground in Madrid while it fights to guarantee itself a specific weight in Sumar and looks askance at what García's party achieves, which is the benchmark for the left in the Community, but a minority at the national level (through Más País).

That Díaz shared an act last week with Íñigo Errejón, founder of Más Madrid, Más País and Podemos, already raised blisters in the purple formation.

In parallel, García's slippage with the social bonus charged by Vice President Enrique Ossorio (she asked for her resignation and later admitted that she also benefits from that help) has also been used by Podemos to highlight the differences between her project and that of Más Madrid.

So,

Demobilization of the progressive electorate

"In politics you have to be consistent, you cannot ask others for what you do not apply to yourself," the national deputy for Podemos, Juantxo López de Uralde, came to say last week in an interview with Europa Press.

The secretary of the Organization of Podemos and Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda, Lilith Verstrynge, did not ignore the controversy either, despite focusing on the Madrid political sphere.

Thus, he considered "obvious" that both Ossorio and García had to return the money collected and warned, without expressly mentioning it, about the case of the leader of Más Madrid: "These things can generate disaffection and distance people from politics", about all to the "progressive electorate."

The Madrid left knows very well the danger of its wars.

In 2015, Izquierda Unida did not obtain the 5% of the necessary votes to enter the Assembly, and with this the 132,000 votes it received were useless and the option of a left-wing government was frustrated (Cristina Cifuentes retained power for the PP thanks to a pact with Cs).

In 2019, Podemos asked for the vote for Más Madrid and Madrid en Pie at the same time in the capital's elections, with Pablo Iglesias making clear his preference for the latter option, and Manuela Carmena lost the mayoralty despite prevailing at the polls (the other candidacy did not get representation).

And in 2023, Más Madrid, PSOE and Unidas Podemos go to the polls separately, while the Socialists expectantly await an agreement from their two potential partners at the national level and in Sumar.

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