Antonio Maíllo wants the alternative left to stop talking about its crisis and start showing a project. The federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida defended this Monday that the candidate of the new space being prepared by IU, Movimiento Sumar, Más Madrid and Comuns will be chosen by “consensus” and asked not to prolong the times too much given the possibility of an early election.
The message comes at a delicate moment for the space that Yolanda Díaz led in 2023. Polls punish Sumar, the party faces its assembly this Saturday after the departure of Lara Hernández and Podemos maintains a cold distance from any attempt at joint recomposition.
Maíllo has tried to bring order to that noise. As he explained, the four organizations are working “discreetly,” “intensely,” and “cohesively” to build a new left-wing confluence. First will come the program. Then, the name of the candidacy and the person who will head the ballot.
“There is a sector that voted for us that is waiting for us,” defended the IU leader. His diagnosis is simple: the vote has not completely disappeared, but it needs to know who embodies the project and what that new alliance offers to mobilize again.
Candidate by September at the latest
Maíllo has been marking September as a reasonable limit for closing the electoral leadership for weeks. This Monday he again insisted that the deadlines must be “diligent,” because the alternative left is already working with a scenario of general elections brought forward two or three months.
The hypothesis of March is beginning to weigh in all conversations. In that calendar, reaching autumn without a candidate, without a brand, and without a recognizable proposal would be entering the campaign late. That is why IU is pushing for the reconstruction not to be trapped in internal balances.
Maíllo himself has positioned the new broad front as a response to the block of PP and the far-right Vox, after the government pact in Andalusia and the advance of the far-right agenda in several communities. “We pick up the gauntlet of the challenge posed by the PP and Vox,” he affirmed, before warning that the objective is to prevent Spain from ending up converted into the “Hungary of southern Europe.”
The phrase seeks to shake up a left that arrives bruised to the summer. The '40dB' barometer for 'El País' and 'Cadena SER' published today places Sumar at 5.8%, far from the 12.3% achieved in the 2023 general elections together with Podemos. The hardest data is in loyalty: only 43.4% of those who voted for Sumar would repeat their ballot today, while a significant portion looks to Podemos or the PSOE.
Podemos does not move
The other piece continues to be Podemos. The purple co-spokesperson, Pablo Fernández, has once again cooled any expectation of a joint candidacy this Monday. He said that people are "a little bit exhausted" by parties constantly talking about themselves and called for a "strong" and "radically autonomous" left from the PSOE.
Podemos has its own path and its own name on the table: Irene Montero. The purple circle does not currently see incentives to return to a coalition with Sumar in the terms of 2023. The rupture remains open and each poll increases the fight for the same electoral space.
Pablo Iglesias has also intervened in the debate from RNE. He believes that Sumar's parties will try to convince the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, although the union leader himself has already ruled himself out several times. Iglesias does not see that profile as a revulsive capable of inspiring or disputing votes from the PSOE.
Budgets and legislature
Maíllo has also wanted to mark a position regarding the General State Budgets. He has warned Pedro Sánchez that it would be a "frivolity" to take the accounts to Congress if the real intention is to use them as an electoral excuse. IU wants the Budgets to arrive in September and be processed in October, but demands that they serve to approve pending social measures.
Among these priorities, he cited the repeal of the harshest aspects of the Gag Law, the extension of rent control, and a universal child-rearing benefit. Podemos, for its part, already warns that it will not support accounts with an "exponential" increase in military spending.
The immediate calendar includes the Movimiento Sumar assembly on July 11, where Verónica Martínez Barbero and Rosa Martínez will take on the new stage of the party with a unitary candidacy. IU wants the political table of the confluence to follow quickly.
Maíllo has left the warning made. Program, candidate, and brand before the early election ceases to be a hypothesis.
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