The Broad Front has agreed this Monday to propose Ada Colau as a candidate for the Presidency of the Government for the general elections on November 29. Izquierda Unida (IU), Comuns, Más Madrid and Movimiento Sumar have reached this joint position in a meeting held this afternoon, after several days of negotiations on leadership and lists.
The decision concretizes the proposal that 'ElConstitucional.es' has been advancing for the last two weeks, based on internal sources of the space. This newspaper has explained how Colau gained support to lead the candidacy while the distribution of positions and the conditions for incorporating Podemos remained open.
The announcement represents an advance on leadership, although important decisions still remain. The joint proposal does not specify which constituency Colau would run for nor does it equate to a formal acceptance by the former mayor. Más Madrid had advocated for her to head the list for Barcelona, with Emilio Delgado as number one for Madrid and Mónica García in second position.
A proposal to Colau with Podemos still out
The four parties keep the incorporation of Podemos open and call for a meeting of the organizations that participated in the 2023 coalition. "No one is left out here", the statement emphasizes. The invitation maintains one of the priorities that Colau has defended these days, when she has linked her availability to the construction of a broad candidacy that includes the purple formation.
That agreement is still pending after ERC and Podemos have formalized their electoral collaboration this Monday. Podemos will contribute to the republican candidacy in Catalonia and Gabriel Rufián will team up with Irene Montero in the campaign. The understanding leaves open the decision on how the purples will run in the rest of Spain and whether they will share a ballot with the Broad Front.
The operation has deteriorated trust within the space. Internal sources told 'ElConstitucional.es' on Sunday night the anger and feeling of betrayal they attributed to Colau, in addition to the difficulties that the rapprochement between Rufián and Podemos opened for a state alliance. Those same interlocutors still saw possibilities of reaching an agreement outside Catalonia.
The discomfort has been publicly expressed this Monday through the Comuns, who reproach Rufián for having defended unity only to end up favoring division. Despite this tension, the joint proposal to Colau retains the invitation to Podemos. The goal of expanding the candidacy remains on the table while the organizations negotiate how to make it compatible with their electoral decisions.
Closing the leadership may facilitate these conversations, but the positions on the lists and the election procedure are still pending. Podemos maintains its open primaries for October 14 and 15, while the parties of the Broad Front work through agreements between organizations. If they end up running separately, they will compete for a part of the same electorate in the different provinces.
The deadline to register electoral coalitions ends this Friday, October 16. Parties have four days to specify who will run together and in which territories.
