The federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida (IU) and spokesperson for Por Andalucía, Antonio Maíllo, defended this Wednesday that the agreement reached between Frente Amplio and PSOE to run with a unitary list in some provinces for the general elections on November 29 "is limited to the Senate", and has rejected that this understanding can be transferred to the Congress of Deputies.
In a press conference at the Andalusian Parliament, Antonio Maíllo explained that the pact responds to a specific logic, linked to the election system of the Upper House, and not to a generalizable strategy for the Lower House. "The agreement that we had bet on, an agreement that a civic platform has proposed and to which organizations of different nature in the Senate have obeyed, and that debate has not been opened in Congress nor do I think it is contemplated", he affirmed.
A pact for 43 provinces and with a focus on the Senate
Maíllo has valued as a "successful alliance" the agreement reached at a national level to present a common candidacy for the Senate in 43 provinces, a formula that, he stressed, seeks to maximize electoral options against the right in a system that he considers especially favorable to conservative majorities.
"The Senate system, unlike the Congress, is a nominal system, it is a purely majoritarian system, you vote not for acronyms, but for senators. It also punishes very populated provinces and the conservative matrix bias that senatorial representation has is evident", said the IU leader, justifying the usefulness of the pact.
The federal coordinator of IU has also highlighted that the agreement between PSOE and Frente Amplio has had an immediate political effect on the right, assuring that "it has stirred the waters of PP and Vox", who, he pointed out, are "desperately trying to figure out how to fight".
Congress, out of the negotiation
Antonio Maíllo has insisted that the understanding reached is limited to the Upper House, and has ruled out that it will extend to the lists of the Congress of Deputies. In his speech, he wanted to clearly delimit the scope of the pact, arguing that it is a plural initiative, promoted by different organizations and with a specific purpose.
"Secretaries, trade unionists, journalists, ordinary citizens, who are interested in preventing the right from controlling the Senate, and that is what we are circumscribing, an agreement that is plural, diverse and from many organizations", he remarked.
In parallel, the number 1 of Frente Amplio for the Community of Madrid for the 29N and spokesperson for Más Madrid in the region, Emilio Delgado, pointed this Tuesday to "open" and "ongoing" negotiations with the Socialist Party (PSOE) to "optimize" and "maximize" the "electoral results" in the lists for the Congress of Deputies.