The current minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, will be the spokesperson for the Frente Amplio campaign for the general elections on 29N, as reported by the coalition in a statement. The appointment positions the minister as one of the main public voices of the candidacy, in a bid to reinforce its “choral” profile and keep the debate on housing in the foreground.
Frente Amplio explained that Pablo Bustinduy, who was strongly rumored to lead the candidacy, although he ruled himself out on several occasions, assumes this role to emphasize the coalition's message, focused on prioritizing housing policies. Furthermore, the minister is the best-rated government representative among the ministers of Sumar, according to the latest survey from the Sociological Research Center (CIS).
Total support for the candidacy and focus on housing
According to Frente Amplio, the minister has shown his “total support” for the electoral coalition from the beginning and his willingness to work “intensely” in a campaign in which, according to the statement, “guaranteeing the right to housing and defending the wages, pensions, and public services of working families is at stake.”
Presence at the launch event in Madrid
Pablo Bustinduy already participated last Saturday in the official launch of the candidacy held in Madrid, alongside the coalition's aspirant to Moncloa, Ada Colau, the head of the list for Madrid, Emilio Delgado, and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, among other leaders of Frente Amplio.
In this context, the coalition highlighted the management of the Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, noting that he has confronted the “abuses of large companies,” has “led” the negotiations of the royal decree-laws on housing, and promoted the reform and financing of the Dependency Law, considered by the party as one of the great achievements of this legislature by the minority partner of the Executive.
“The autumn of housing” and 29N as a “referendum”
In statements sent to the media, Pablo Bustinduy assured that the mobilizations registered in different parts of the country “point to a very clear path” and added that “this will be the autumn of housing and our job is to take that momentum to the polls.”
The new spokesperson for Frente Amplio went a step further by stating that 29N will be “a referendum on the right to housing,” and maintained that the country will have to decide between those who “embrace speculators and those who want to cut rights” or advance “decisively towards a new housing policy that prioritizes the needs of the working class.”