The conversations about the withdrawal of candidacies for Congress remain open in the Broad Front and are causing strong tensions within Izquierda Unida (IU). "Whoever says there are no conversations is lying," sources from the space consulted by 'ElConstitucional.es' affirm. Their explanations contrast with public denials about contacts to concentrate the progressive vote in certain provinces ahead of the November 29 elections.
These sources place IU as the organization most opposed to renouncing candidacies and describe division and confrontations between its state leadership and certain territories. Among the possibilities handled by sectors opposed to withdrawals is presenting their own list where the Broad Front decides to step aside. The viability of that response depends, however, on coalition agreements and the margin available in each territory.
Teruel has just shown that difficulty. The coordinator of IU Aragón, Marta Abengochea, has acknowledged this Friday that her organization has exhausted the alternatives studied to run without Chunta Aragonesista (CHA). "There is no possible way", she affirmed. The federation maintains its rejection of the renunciation, but assumes that it needs its partner to change position before Monday 26, when the deadline for submitting candidacies ends.
The debate became public after Emilio Delgado, head of the Broad Front list for Madrid, spoke on Tuesday on TVE about contacts to optimize electoral results. The coalition later explained that he was referring to the Senate and the PSOE's Organization Secretary, Rebeca Torró, denied on Thursday that withdrawals for Congress were being negotiated. The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, defended competing in all provinces, although he left room for the particularities that the parties of each territory could explain.
IU Aragón assumes the blockade of Teruel
The origin of the conflict is the decision announced on Wednesday by the president of CHA, Jorge Pueyo, to concentrate efforts for Congress in Zaragoza and Huesca. The Aragonese justified their renunciation of Teruel by the need to avoid vote dispersion and favor a progressive majority. They maintain their participation in the candidacies for the Senate, where there is an agreement with the PSOE.
IU responded by calling the decision "nonsense" and defended that it had its candidacies chosen since October 13. On Thursday, sources from the federal leadership still conveyed their intention to present a list in Teruel. This Friday, the Aragonese federation has communicated that all legal alternatives examined depended on CHA and that its partner "has not made it possible."
The coalition agreement attributes to Chunta the decision on the constituencies in which the alliance competes. Abengochea recalled that this pact was validated at the state level and insisted that IU will respect the signed commitments, even if it disagrees with the resignation. Its statement maintains a final request to CHA to reconsider the decision and allow the candidacy to be registered before the deadline closes.
The federation will campaign throughout Aragon and Abengochea has ruled out asking for votes for another formation. The absence of its own ballot also affects an organization with municipal presence in Teruel, where it governs the town councils of La Puebla de Híjar and Aguaviva. IU maintains that it must offer an alternative in areas with greater representation difficulties and links this presence with the defense of public services and the fight against depopulation.
The contacts and accounts of 29N
The discussion goes beyond the Teruel case. The socialist approach described by sources in the space contemplates renouncing its own candidacies and incorporating independents into the PSOE lists in Galicia, Euskadi and nine other provinces. These last ones are Cáceres, Badajoz, Huelva, Jaén, León, Salamanca, Albacete, Ciudad Real and La Rioja. The proposal meets with opposition from IU and discrepancies within the Broad Front, without the contacts allowing a general agreement to be considered closed.
Public positions are not the same in all territories either. In Huesca, PSOE and CHA have ruled out a pact for Congress and limit their understanding to the Senate. In Euskadi, Lander Martínez, from Sumar Mugimendua, has defended the intention of competing in the three Basque provinces. The campaign spokesperson for the Broad Front, Pablo Bustinduy, has referred the resolution of the Aragonese conflict to its organizations and has called for focusing the campaign on housing, wages and pensions.
Teruel allows verifying both the interest in concentrating support and the limits of that operation. In 2023, the PP won two deputies with 26,586 votes and the PSOE obtained one with 22,226; Sumar gathered 4,126 votes and was left out. The full sum of socialist and Sumar votes would have reached 26,352, still 234 less than the PP, so the distribution would have remained two popular seats and one socialist, keeping the support for the other candidacies equal.
That result serves as a reference, with a relevant difference for November. Sumar then included Podemos, which now runs separately from the Frente Amplio in Aragon. In addition, voters of a withdrawn candidacy can choose another option or abstain. Gabriel Rufián, spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana and electoral ally of Podemos, has warned that there are left-wing citizens who want an alternative to the PSOE. Teruel Existe also competes to regain the representation it lost in 2023.
Podemos calls for votes amidst resignations in Aragon
Podemos tries to electorally capitalize on the Frente Amplio's withdrawal in Teruel while facing another crisis in its Aragonese organization. The until now coordinator, Ricard Mitjana, and Pilar Gimeno have left their responsibilities due to discrepancies with the regional and state leaderships. Mitjana explained that he submitted his resignation from all his organic positions on October 7, after disagreements arose when he communicated that he wanted to run in the primaries for the Zaragoza City Council.
The departure once again alters a leadership that had tried to recompose itself after several years of conflicts. The previous executive resigned en masse in August 2024 and Mitjana assumed coordination at the end of 2025. In the regional elections last February, Podemos obtained 6,206 votes and was left out of the Cortes de Aragón, after having retained a single deputy in 2023.
The party's general secretary, Ione Belarra, downplayed the resignation this Friday by pointing out that it occurred weeks ago and linking it to the municipal primaries. She also cited María Goikoetxea, who headed the regional candidacy in February, as a reference and defined her as the person who can best lead the organization so that there is a left-wing voting option in Aragon.
Belarra has called for the support of the Teruel electorate and has criticized that the Broad Front reached an agreement with the PSOE for the Senate while understanding with Podemos for Congress failed. The purple party maintains its intention to present a candidacy in Teruel. "It gives the opportunity to vote left to everyone who wants to do so," its general secretary affirmed.
