The Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, announced early this Wednesday her intention to run as federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida, a position in which she would succeed Alberto Garzón.
Through a video published on social networks, the leader, number two in the Executive led by the former Minister of Consumption, calls for building a “brave and combative” political force that she defines as “the left that was, is and will be.” assuming the title of the political document that the current leadership has presented to the XIII Federal Assembly of the formation, which is held on May 18 and 19.
From that meeting, both IU's strategic line and the team in charge of leading the party for the next four years will be approved.
Rego would be the first woman to hold the position.
Today I present my candidacy for the federal coordination of @IzquierdaUnida.
I want to ask for your support to build a brave and combative UI.
If you want to join me and participate, go to https://t.co/Tla490Qlzd#ArribaLasQueLuchan ✊🏼 pic.twitter.com/grevsBfPvY
— Sira Rego 🔻 (@sirarego) March 13, 2024
The presentation, in the middle of the primaries to elect the party's candidate for the European elections and without prior internal agreement, has caused discomfort in the leadership of the PCE, integrated into the previous Executive and with whom the minister's team had been negotiating since end of last year.
“Out of respect for your decision, I regret the renunciation of the agreement to have the best, most representative and most cohesive leadership to lead Izquierda Unida.
For many months we have been working to achieve maximum unity around politics.
And in primaries,” warned Amanda Meyer, IU co-spokesperson.
Her message on her networks shows the difficulties now, after the announcement, to reach an agreement without which there could be more than one list for the Assembly.
The deadline for any activist to present a candidacy – it is necessary to obtain the endorsement of 2% of the census – ends on April 29.
So far, nothing has emerged about the rest of the members who will accompany Rego on the ballot and although his line is continuous with that of Garzón, different sources affirm that the team is not closed.
According to them, the PCE wanted to obtain an agreement in this regard before giving the final yes to Rego as coordinator.
“We have time to agree on absolutely everything.
We are going to debate, to reach a consensus, to talk about politics.
We have a magnificent document and there is plenty of time to have a unitary process that represents all of us.
That, of course, is my vocation,” the candidate responded in the halls of Congress.
Among the voices that have been positioned throughout the morning, that of the person in charge of the training program, Carlos Sánchez Mato, also stands out, calling for consensus.
“The best thing for the working class and for our organization will be for a great agreement to be articulated that includes the diversity of Izquierda Unida.
As a humble militant I expect cooperation between different sensitivities and not competition.
We need you all,” the message reads.
In a video recorded in the street, with several elements that allude to the feminist struggle and the conflict in Gaza, the minister warns that we are entering one of the "darkest episodes since the Second World War."
“It doesn't matter whether we look at our neighborhoods, at the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea or at Gaza.
And bankers, gentlemen, and racists who fan the fire of fear for their own benefit are not going to rescue us from this darkness,” she adds.
Faced with this context, Rego presents a candidacy, as she states, with the aim of betting “on [building] bridges instead of walls” and “debating to break the siege of tension.”
The head of Youth and Children advocates continuing to “build and strengthen” an organization “that draws on the red thread, but does not close itself in on itself,” “that knows how to be permeable to the gaze of the new fighters,” that can be “ reference in the institutions to continue advancing rights", but that "never locks itself in palaces" and is aware that "its sap emanates from the streets, from the squares, from the territories and from taking care of what is nearby."
In the general elections of last June 23, Izquierda Unida won five of the 31 deputies of Sumar and currently occupies one of the five ministries assigned to the minority partner of the coalition.
More information
Sira Rego, the new feminist leadership of IU
Sira Rego (Valencia, 50 years old) already assumed the institutional leadership of IU last November when the new Executive was formed.
A few days later, Garzón took a definitive step aside by leaving the federal coordination of training after more than seven years in the position.
The minister was, from 2019 and until her appointment to the Government, a MEP for Unidas Podemos and a federal spokesperson for Izquierda Unida.
She had previously developed her political career in municipalism as a councilor in the Rivas City Council, a traditional bastion of the party.
She was deputy mayor and head of Housing, Environmental Sustainability, parks and gardens;
Urban mobility and transportation and Citizen Security, among others.
Graduated in Nutrition from the Autonomous University of Madrid, mother of one son and of Palestinian origin, the now candidate was until her arrival in the Government a great unknown to the general public and although her presence in the Executive has given her notoriety, she is only known 13.7% of those surveyed, according to the latest CIS, only ahead of Elma Saiz and Ángel Víctor Torres.
The political document defended by the IU Executive, now open for debate, advocates “feminizing” training, as well as “reinforcing its territorial implementation” and its “organizational solidity.”
The announcement of Rego's candidacy occurs just ten days before Sumar's first assembly is held, on March 23, with many doubts still about the party's future role in the platform.
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