Ada Colau asks ERC and Podemos to return to the negotiating table to achieve a single left-wing candidacy in the general elections on November 29. The former mayor of Barcelona has just published a video on Instagram in which she offers the hand of the Broad Front and calls on all organizations to move from their positions to reach an agreement.
"I want to insist with this video that there is still time, that we sit down and keep talking, that we extend a hand from the Broad Front to reach agreements," she states. Colau considers that this unity is possible and "necessary to stop fascism in the upcoming elections," and places the will of the parties as a condition to achieve it.
It is her first public intervention since Izquierda Unida (IU), Más Madrid, Comuns, and Movimiento Sumar proposed her this Monday as a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. The bet on Colau had been anticipated by 'ElConstitucional.es', which has reported in recent weeks on the contacts, leadership alternatives, and difficulties in bringing together the entire space.
Colau thanks for that election and explains how she interprets the assignment. "Thank you for this trust, which is an enormous responsibility," she points out, before linking it to the objective of achieving a single candidacy, which she identifies as the demand of the citizenry.
She speaks now from the Broad Front and commits her participation in that effort. The video thus supports the role that the four organizations have offered her, although it does not include an express acceptance to run with the current composition nor does it clarify what decision she would make if the understanding with Podemos finally fails. Her message maintains the expansion of the candidacy as a priority.
Madrid and Catalonia are still pending
The call comes after Podemos and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) have closed their electoral collaboration. The purple party renounces to present its own candidacy in Catalonia and will contribute to the republican lists. In exchange, Gabriel Rufián will campaign with Irene Montero outside Catalonia, a formula that still needs to fit with the negotiations of the rest of the left.
That agreement has added difficulties to the search for a shared ballot. Sources from the Broad Front told 'ElConstitucional.es' on Sunday night Colau's discomfort and the feeling of having been left out of the movements between Rufián and Podemos. The Comuns later made public their disappointment with the republican leader. Now Colau insists on talking to both parties despite that deterioration of trust.
In Madrid there is also a proposal on the table. As this newspaper has published, sources close to the negotiations place an offer to Montero to occupy the number two behind Emilio Delgado. The approach seeks to facilitate an agreement, but it is still pending to be finalized and accepted; nor does it resolve the state leadership by itself.
Montero has rejected this morning on 'La Hora de La 1', on TVE, that Podemos integrate into the Broad Front, while maintaining the willingness to negotiate other forms of collaboration. On 'Hoy por Hoy', on Cadena SER, she has confirmed that contacts continue. Her rejection of entering the coalition leaves open other electoral formulas, which still need to be translated into concrete agreements.
Rufián, for his part, has today demanded that ERC and Comuns talk to unblock the Catalan situation. The republican leadership maintains that it will run under its own acronym and rules out joining the Broad Front. The cooperation proposed by Colau needs to find a fit with these positions and with the identity of each organization.
A candidacy to avoid losing votes
Colau directs her request for concessions to all the forces involved and offers her own commitment to achieve the agreement. She defends a project that allows "not to retreat an inch" in rights and freedoms against the pretensions of the right and the extreme right.
The discussion has electoral consequences. A collaboration limited to certain provinces could reduce competition between lists, but would leave opposing candidacies in others. Division can make it difficult to obtain seats, especially where few deputies are distributed, and forces a decision on whether shared support in the campaign also corresponds to shared ballots.
IU and Movimiento Sumar keep the incorporation of Podemos open. Antonio Maíllo has today asked on TVE that unitary messages become facts, while Verónica Martínez Barbero has expressed on Telecinco her confidence in reaching an understanding. Colau adds that the Broad Front is also talking with other territorial forces, although the video does not specify which ones.
The deadline to register coalitions ends this Friday, October 16. Before that, Podemos will hold its open primaries on the 14th and 15th. "There is still time, not much, but there is still time," Colau reminds.
