Belarra announces that Podemos will attend the elections with Sumar, but seeks to extend the negotiation on the lists

The drama in the political space to the left of the PSOE lasts, at least, a few hours: the leadership of Podemos has announced this Friday that it will concur with Sumar to the general elections of July 23, but, at the same time, has flatly rejected all the terms of the agreement raised by the negotiating team of the Vice President of the Government Yolanda Díaz, thus opening a public battle over the conditions of that confluence.

The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, explained in a video that the decision to attend the elections in coalition with Sumar "is taken", and that the signature of her party in the document that is registered today in the Electoral Board presenting that electoral coalition is "guaranteed". But, at the same time, he has said that the leadership of Podemos does not accept either the "veto" to the presence of Irene Montero in the electoral lists or the positions offered in those lists by Díaz's negotiating team; some positions that Podemos sees insufficient because, according to its analysis, they could leave the party out of the Congress of Deputies the next legislature. The intention of Podemos is, therefore, to register the electoral coalition today but to continue discussing the details of the agreement for ten more days, until the deadline to present the specific lists of each constituency expires.

Sumar sources have responded immediately that the presence of Podemos in the candidacies is "widely guaranteed" and that they "do not accept" that the formation of Belarra takes them "to the stage of Andalusia", in reference to the very hard negotiation between the left formations that occurred before the Andalusian elections of 2022 and that resulted in a pulse of such caliber that the pact finally arrived outside the legal deadline and the coalition it could not formally include Podemos. "The coalition will be registered this afternoon," warn these sources of Sumar, without clarifying if it is an ultimatum to Belarra's party. The intention of Díaz's negotiating team is to close everything today to avoid the wear and tear that would mean prolonging the negotiations for ten more days.

"We will attend the general elections with Sumar, that decision has been made," Belarra said in the video, which then made an amendment to the entire offer presented by Díaz, opening fire even against the negotiating team of the vice president. "He has told us that the presence of Irene Montero is an insurmountable obstacle to reaching an agreement. It deeply saddens me that Yolanda, through her team, proposes that the electoral coalition agreement be built on the exclusion of a comrade who has taken feminist transformations further than anyone before," Belarra defended in a very harsh tone, before interpreting that the request of Sumar supposes "sacrificing" the "main political asset" of Podemos.

The Minister of Equality, according to the leader of the party, has intervened in the Executive of Podemos to "make herself available" to the formation and "do what is necessary, however unfair it may be, to ensure unity", something that "all members" of the leadership have rejected. "We do not accept any veto as part of the negotiation," Belarra insisted. The statement of the general secretary comes after the express consultation to the party membership granted, with 92.92% of the support, full powers to the Executive to decide on the agreement with Díaz.

"With the last offer made by the negotiating team of Sumar, Podemos could be left without representation in the Congress of Deputies," Belarra has also launched before asking the vice president for "a fair agreement." "We hope we don't have to go to the last minute to register the coalition. The agreement can be given in a very short time if there is Yolanda's will, "he remarked.

Party sources reiterate that the commitment to unity "is firm", and assure that they will be in the coalition's registry today even if a final agreement has not yet been reached. For Podemos, at this time, the exclusion of the Minister of Equality, a figure with enormous wear and tear in the Government for the management of the crisis of only yes is yes, is a red line because it would be a "humiliation". These sources believe that, in practice, this veto is a rejection of the party's presence. Some voices within the leadership also warn that there is time to correct errors in the registration of that coalition. Article 44 of the Electoral Regime Law establishes that the "correction" period is 48 hours, although the Sumar team does not seem willing to accept that the negotiations remain open.

In addition to the veto to Montero in a particularly complicated week for the minister – to the two blows to the law of the only yes is yes with the criticisms of the UN rapporteur and the endorsement of the reductions of sentence of the Supreme Court adds a conviction for violation of the right to honor this Friday, Podemos has rejected the distribution of posts. They denounce that it is based on the composition of the House of 2019, and that the current scenario could be much worse. The formation also does not accept the 23% quota in economic resources or the representation offered by Díaz in the Bureau of Congress, commissions and interventions in plenary.

Alberto Garzón: "Sorry for the noise. No one deserves this."

Shortly after Belarra's intervention, the federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida, Alberto Garzón, announced his party's agreement with Sumar and, in a statement, apologized for all this public dispute. "I want to apologize to the public for the noise caused in this process. Nobody deserves this, and from IU we are convinced that things can be done differently and much better, "he wrote on social networks. The Minister of Consumer Affairs has assured that IU has guaranteed the presence of deputies in the future parliamentary group, and that they "will work autonomously and coordinated" with the rest of the group. The number two of the organization, Sira Rego, has decided to take a step back and renounce going on the lists to "facilitate" the presence of party members in other territories. "Our formation has the greatest organizational extension and institutional presence of all those that make up the space, and this will be essential in the future of the left," Garzón says in his statement.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Read more

I'm already a subscriber