The leader of Movimiento Sumar, Verónica Martínez Barbero, rejected this Tuesday Podemos' offer to hold open primaries to choose a common left-wing candidate in the upcoming general elections, and insisted that the formula her space defends involves understanding between organizations, not internal competition.
"It's better to agree than to compete"
In an interview on RNE, Verónica Martínez Barbero explained that her party has been working for months on an idea that, she said, summarizes the political criterion that the new coalition wants to apply: "We have been working for months on a simple idea, which is that it is better to agree than to compete among ourselves. Primaries are not a red line, but the method we are working on is different. It is one of dialogue, consensus, and agreement between organizations."
The leader, who heads one of the four parties that make up the new Sumar alliance, thus responded to the proposal launched by Podemos, which proposed an open primary process on October 14 and 15 to choose its candidate in that space, a process to which the number two of the purples, Irene Montero, would present herself.
Negotiation remains open with Podemos
Barbero stressed that there is still "much more to talk about" with Podemos if both parties finally choose to run together in a coalition, because, she emphasized, not only the name of the candidacy or the system to choose it is on the table.
In that sense, she pointed out that "the table is open to everyone to propose ideas" within the renewed coalition, made up of: Movimiento, Sumar, Izquierda Unida (IU), Más Madrid and the commons. The alliance will run in the general elections on November 29 with the new name of Frente Amplio, although it has not yet confirmed who will head the candidacy.
Frente Amplio will announce its headliner in the coming days
Verónica Martínez Barbero stated that the coalition will announce its head of list before the Frente Amplio event on October 7, where they plan to present both that person and the new political project.
For his part, the leader of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, defended in an interview on Cadena SER that they should go in coalition with Podemos, although he asked the purples to formulate any proposal "sitting at a table in a fraternal manner," and pointed out that the name of Frente Amplio's head of list will arrive "in the coming days."
Asked about the Minister of Health, Mónica García, pointed out by some sectors of the space as a possible candidate, Antonio Maíllo replied: "To me, all of them seem like good leaders. I think we have a formidable pool of talent."
