Podemos will claim its place in the general election debates on 29N: it is willing to share time with the Broad Front

Podemos will fight for Irene Montero to have a place in the electoral debates for the general elections on November 29. The party will demand before the Central Electoral Board (JEC) that the planned meetings with PP, PSOE, Vox, and Frente Amplio be expanded to five participants and is willing, if that option does not prosper, to share the time assigned to the candidacy led by Ada Colau.

According to party sources, the request will also cover interviews and electoral information spaces in public and private media. Podemos wants to defend its candidacy with its own voice in a campaign in which it will compete with a good part of its former Sumar partners, after the failure of negotiations to unite all alternative left parties on a single ballot.

The problem arises from the gap between the results of the 2023 general elections and the candidacies that will now run. Then, Podemos was part of the coalition led by Yolanda Díaz. Its five deputies left the parliamentary group in December of that year and moved to the Mixed Group, where four remained after Lilith Verstrynge's departure. That joint candidacy has split, but its results are still the electoral reference for organizing coverage of the next general elections.

The purples will bring two additional arguments to the JEC. On the one hand, the 578,007 votes and the two MEPs obtained in the 2024 European elections, when they competed separately with Sumar. On the other, the 2023 coalition agreement, which reserved 23% of subsidies and internal representation for them. This percentage is part of their claim and will have to be evaluated by the Board, without it being equivalent in itself to an already recognized time quota.

The decision will affect the possibility of explaining their proposals and confronting them with those of their competitors before an audience that goes beyond sympathizers. A debate with Colau as the sole representative of the alternative left would exclude Podemos's position, which aims to dispute that electorate with a differentiated project.

Electoral regulations require respect for pluralism, equality, proportionality, and informational neutrality, with different obligations for public and private media. It also contemplates compensation formulas when a television channel organizes restricted meetings. Podemos's participation remains pending the electoral criterion, which must be applied to a 2023 coalition whose members are now running in different candidacies.

The four-way debate remains in dispute and laSexta has already announced two meetings

The television calendar has several dates on the table and different degrees of agreement. RTVE proposed three debates for November, a face-to-face between Sánchez and Feijóo on the 17th, a meeting of parliamentary spokespersons on the 23rd, and another with the four main candidates on the 26th. The corporation offered to broadcast them live and provide the signal free of charge to other operators.

Podemos will also demand to participate in the meeting of the eight parliamentary groups, whose design excludes the Mixed Group. The party believes that its membership in the Sumar candidacy of 2023 should be taken into account when organizing it, even if its deputies later left that group.

Meanwhile, Sánchez and Feijóo have accepted the date of November 16 for the face-to-face. Mediaset has announced that it is working with both parties to finalize the details and maintains Carlos Franganillo and Alba Lago as moderators. The PSOE has asked private channels to reach an organizational agreement and allow sharing the signal, while Atresmedia maintains its own offer to hold the meeting.

The main discrepancy remains in the debate with Vox and Frente Amplio. The PSOE wants to hold it on RTVE on November 26 and the PP opts for Atresmedia, rejecting the public television's proposal. There is also a relevant precedent for Podemos's claim. The PP's campaign committee stated on October 14 that it would not oppose expanding the Atresmedia debate to five if the purples and Frente Amplio ended up running separately.

Before those appointments, laSexta has announced two debates moderated by Ana Pastor on November 2 and 9, with representatives from PSOE, PP, Vox, and Frente Amplio. The first will address housing and economy; the second, democratic regeneration, immigration, and the welfare state. The format communicated by the channel also does not include Podemos.

To the proposals of the major groups is added the offer from La Séptima, which wants to organize face-to-face meetings and sectoral encounters after its premiere, scheduled for November 5. The new channel has offered an open and free signal to televisions, radios, and digital media, although it has not yet finalized a participation calendar.

Sharing time has a precedent that Podemos knows well. In the 2023 regional elections in Murcia, the Provincial Electoral Board ruled that Podemos and Más Región should share their space in a debate on regional television. The broadcast ended up suspended when the Podemos candidate refused to leave the set to make way for the Más Región candidate. Now, the party itself considers this distribution as a way to intervene.

The dispute also has a political interpretation. Podemos argues that the presence of Frente Amplio would imply an "overrepresentation" of the PSOE, due to the pact to run together for the Senate in a large part of the territory and the agreements on possible withdrawals of lists for Congress that it attributes to both forces. This is the argument of the purples, while the JEC will have to decide on the representation and rights of each candidacy.

Montero and Colau will go to 'Doble de Drama' while Jordi Wild limits his interviews

The campaign is also being prepared on podcasts, where long interviews allow candidates to reach audiences different from those accustomed to political information. Irene Montero and Ada Colau have confirmed their participation in 'Doble de Drama', the program by Celopan and Melo Moreno, which is preparing a special program for the last week before the elections.

The announcement contrasts with the guest selection of 'The Wild Project'. Jordi Wild has confirmed interviews with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Santiago Abascal, and Ada Colau, and set this Friday, October 23, as the deadline to receive Pedro Sánchez's response. After abandoning his initial condition of interviewing all or none, he will proceed with those who accept.

Podemos has also requested to attend. Wild himself acknowledged this Thursday in a message on X, in which he mentioned requests from ERC, Junts and Se Acabó la Fiesta. The presenter sees it difficult to incorporate more interviews for agenda and time reasons, as he explained. The confirmed conversations will be published on November 13, the first official day of the campaign, one hour apart and in order of least to greatest parliamentary representation.

Appearances on entertainment programs have already begun. Pedro Sánchez attended 'La Revuelta' this Thursday and Ada Colau has accepted David Broncano's invitation, while Feijóo and Abascal still had not confirmed their attendance according to the program's latest update. These spaces offer a different kind of exposure than a debate, with more time to develop a personal profile and reach viewers who may not follow conventional political interviews.

For Podemos, securing these audience windows is especially relevant while their presence in major electoral gatherings remains pending. In 'Doble de Drama' they will have a confirmed interview along with programming that also includes other figures from the left. Celopan announced this Friday five talks between November 23 and 27, with Montero, Colau, and Tesh Sidi already confirmed.

Hours later, the creator added a fourth confirmation. Gabriel Rufián will also participate in the special, while the program was still awaiting the response from Pedro Sánchez's team to complete the five planned conversations.