This Friday, October 16, is the deadline to register the coalitions that will run in the general elections on November 29. With that limit one day away, the left-wing forces keep conversations open, while differences persist over the incorporation of Podemos into the Frente Amplio and the possibility of a shared candidacy between ERC and the Comuns in Catalonia.
In this context, 'ElConstitucional.es' has contacted sources close to the ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, who report that the republican leader will continue to seek an understanding until the deadline. His message combines the defense of internal negotiation with a direct appeal to the party leaderships. “Rufián will try until the end. Talking to everyone and appealing for unity. The party leaderships have the responsibility to rise to the occasion,” these sources assure.
The consulted interlocutors avoid entering into a public confrontation about the state of the conversations. They explain that their position during these days has been to maintain discretion and take differences to the internal negotiation spaces. “Out of responsibility and because if we have to talk, we have to do it internally," they tell this newspaper.
Colau asks him to defend unity within ERC
The message from his circle comes on the same Thursday that Ada Colau urged Rufián to defend a unitary candidacy within Esquerra. In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, the Frente Amplio candidate explained that, after talking with him, she asked the Comuns leadership to contact the republican leadership. According to her account, the attempt to open that negotiation received a "resounding" refusal: "The answer was that they don't even want to sit down to talk."
Colau has placed on Rufián the possibility of promoting a change of position within his party: “I want to strongly encourage Gabriel Rufián to fight within his party because I believe he now has the ascendancy, he has the strength of popular support, to propose this anti-fascist candidacy. But, of course, Gabriel Rufián must do that with Esquerra.”
Rufián had already publicly called for a rapprochement between the two formations on October 13, after the collaboration agreement between ERC and Podemos became known. “ERC and Comuns must talk, listen to each other and understand each other to unblock the situation. Beyond vetoes and hatreds that matter to no one. And I am in that. And I will be until the end. The rest is intoxication and lies,” he wrote on X.
Por aclarar. Yo quiero que haya acuerdo. Y eso pasa porque también lo haya en Catalunya. No tiene ningún sentido reclamar Frentes Amplios para Madrid y no quererlos para Catalunya. ERC y Comunes deben hablar, escucharse y entenderse para desbloquear la situación. Mas allá de vetos y odios que no importan a nadie. Y yo estoy en eso. Y lo estaré hasta al final. Lo demás es intoxicación y mentira.
— Gabriel Rufián (@gabrielrufian) October 13, 2026
The discomfort with Rufián
The difficulties in closing a joint candidacy had been accumulating since before the announcement of the ERC-Podemos pact. 'ElConstitucional.es' exclusively reported on Sunday, October 11, Ada Colau's discomfort with the rapprochement between Rufián and the purple party, based on internal sources from the Broad Front.
Those interlocutors described the former mayor's frustration with conversations that, according to their version, had advanced without her while she was trying to bring together the different organizations. The information also indicated that the Catalan understanding complicated Podemos's decision about its alliances in the rest of Spain.
The disagreement later acquired a public expression in the Comuns' statement: "Rufián came to unify the lefts and is doing everything possible to divide them." The party reaffirmed its participation in the Broad Front alongside Izquierda Unida, Movimiento Sumar, and Más Madrid.
Against these criticisms, sources close to Rufián consulted now by this newspaper insist that he will continue to appeal for unity and place the responsibility for facilitating it on the leaderships.
The pact with Podemos leaves the fit with the Broad Front pending
The collaboration announced by ERC and Podemos on October 12 contemplates that the purple party will contribute to the republican candidacy in Catalonia and that Irene Montero and Gabriel Rufián will share campaign events.
The agreement allows people linked to Podem to join ERC's lists as independents, while Podemos renounces presenting its own candidacies in the four Catalan constituencies. Outside Catalonia, Rufián will participate in the campaign alongside Montero. The formula was presented as a collaboration, not as a formal coalition between both parties.
This understanding does not resolve the relationship with the Comuns or Podemos's incorporation into the Broad Front. While Colau proposes bringing together the different forces in a single candidacy, the purple party has defended its agreement with ERC and invited other organizations to join this collaboration.
Colau maintains her offer until Friday
Colau has assured that she will continue to defend a shared candidacy "until the last minute on Friday." She has also ruled out that the Comuns will stop running in Catalonia to concentrate the vote on ERC: "We should not do what is rewarding those who do not want agreements."
Regarding a possible withdrawal of her candidacy if Podemos does not join the Broad Front, she stated that she is not “in this hypothesis.”
One day before the registration deadline, Rufián's circle maintains its message of continuity in the conversations: “Rufián will try until the end.”
