Podemos has sent a strong message to Yolanda Díaz. The national leadership has blown up two candidacies in strategic municipalities that were going to be an experiment in unity of the alternative left to the PSOE in the local elections on May 28. That is to say, projects that emulated the philosophy of what Sumar aspires to be for the next autumn generals. This is Cádiz, where the challenge is to retain the Mayor’s Office of a city that in its day was one of the symbols of the local power of Podemos under the baton of Kichi, and of Rivas (Madrid), a historical stronghold of IU and one of its proudest emblems to which Alberto Garzón or, in his day, Pablo Iglesias moved.
In both cases, Podemos will present itself alone and will face the left-wing coalitions that will survive his defiance. IU, on the other hand, will go hand in hand with Más Madrid in the case of Rivas and Adelante Andalucía and other local forces in the case of the capital of Cádiz.
The last-minute movement of Podemos blowing up the agreements reached by its local and regional teams is related to the tensions that have been generated in the political space with the irruption of Díaz’s project and the doubts that exist about whether a confluence can finally be achieved between the purples and Sumar given the escalation of the confrontation they maintain. For this reason, the sources consulted directly link what has happened with the situation that Podemos and Díaz are going through.
Especially in the case of Rivas, where IU and Más Madrid strengthen their relationship. Sources from these formations assure that Podemos’s decision is “one more way to disassociate themselves from the postulates defended by Yolanda Díaz” and even, in some cases, they speak of “revenge”. Well, IU is one of Sumar’s great strategic allies. Other sources support the thesis of an instrumental use of Rivas against Díaz, given that the local team there is very much in tune with Sumar.
IU Rivas was explicit in a statement by blaming the “state leadership” of Podemos for the decision and showed her support for both the party’s municipal team and the regional leader, because they had “done everything possible” to be part of the coalition. Her case, moreover, is not the only one because the same thing has happened in other towns such as Parla or Tres Cantos, where there was unity.
Podemos, for its part, charges the inks against Más Madrid, for being responsible for the lack of unity, since it has refused to even discuss the possibility of going together to the regional elections. Thus, he dismisses as “propaganda” the story of pointing to the purple ones as the culprits and places Rivas as an example of a particular “interest” of Más Madrid as opposed to what is happening in the rest of the region. In fact, Podemos figures that 93% of the community goes together with IU and Alianza Verde.
As for Cádiz, Podemos has been left out at the last moment of the Adelante pact with Izquierda Caditana. An alliance in which Kichi’s successor, David de la Cruz, has the challenge of defending a city where he rules. Sources close to Podemos try to unlink the decision from the tensions with Díaz, but other sources do see national keys in the sit-in due to the support that IU gives Díaz and because Adelante, which in no case will be integrated into Sumar, emerges after the march of their leaders of the purple ranks.
Despite the final convulsions, there will be examples of unity projects in the municipal elections that unite Podemos-IU with forces that are now outside that space. Mainly in Andalusia, where Más País is part of the Seville, Córdoba or Almería agreements, among others. Also in Malaga, where a confrontation that was visceral between IU-Más País, on the one hand, and Podemos, on the other, was managed to straighten out, which also drinks from the hangover of the candidacy for the Andalusian elections, which has the protagonists facing each other in those two blocks.
In the Valencian Community there are also certain agreements between Podemos and Compromís, such as in the towns of Orihuela, Gandía or Torrent. The sources consulted indicate that nothing would have been broken there.
On the other hand, finally yesterday there was an agreement in extremis in La Rioja. Podemos and IU will go together and, with this, there will be 10 alliances for the regional elections. Four more than in 2019. A record. The Rioja list will be led by IU (Henar Moreno) and this is the first time that this has happened on a regional list of United We Can. Well, both in the past and now, the candidates have had and still have a purple card. Precisely that has pushed the negotiations to the limit. Podemos has made IU pay the price: he will keep 60% of the money. The ambition to reach 70% almost truncates the coalition.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
