The regional and municipal elections in May next year will configure, among many other things, the new political map of the Spanish left. And in the midst of the reconstruction of a heterogeneous space by definition, some tactical movements are beginning to take place that can serve as a clue to what is to come. With the launch of the Sumar platform by Yolanda Díaz in the background, the coalition formula between Izquierda Unida and Podemos is in the air in many territories. And those of Alberto Garzón have begun to move to explore alliances that are more in line with the project that the vice president intends to promote than with the one led by Pablo Iglesias, now pending refoundation.
Baldoví announces that he will present himself to the Compromís primaries
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Along these lines, Izquierda Unida has already conveyed to both Compromís and Más Madrid its interest in sitting down to negotiate candidacies that go hand in hand in Valencia and Madrid for the regional and municipal ones, in tune with the intention of “widening the space” defended by Yolanda Díaz facing the generals. Both Joan Baldoví and Mónica García are aware of these movements although, for now, all contacts have occurred more or less informally, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
“Our line of work continues to be that of forging alliances that allow us to widen the political space of the left and not narrow it,” states the secretary of organization of the IU, Ismael González, who adds that “exploring agreements with other formations beyond the formula United We Can is in line with the work being done for the Sumar project.” Officially, Izquierda Unida prefers to maintain discretion over these contacts with Compromís and Más País, although sources from the leftist coalition confirm that they have taken place at different levels and that more will be specified in the coming weeks with the sole objective of presenting more competitive candidates. who aspire to form progressive governments.
In any case, the contexts of Valencia and Madrid are very different. In the Valencian Community, the left governs the Generalitat with a tripartite formed by PSPV, Compromís and Izquierda Unida (EUPV). Compromís sources admit to being aware for a long time of the will of the United Left to sit down and talk about a joint candidacy, something that in recent weeks would have been transferred to them in an “insistent” way.
In the Valencian formation they are cautious about the signs of viability that they grant to this agreement, although in no case do they openly rule out the possibility and emphasize that there are “internal mechanisms” that allow independent candidates or other formations to be incorporated into their lists. What those of Baldoví do clarify is that this hypothetical pact would not be executed under other acronyms or another formula other than that of a Compromís candidacy, a brand that they consider widely recognized and valued by the progressive Valencian electorate for years. According to various political leaders familiar with the talks, this condition would not be an impediment for IU.
Waiting for new work meetings to take place between the two organizations, the leadership of the parties is evaluating from the inside the electoral incentives of a possible agreement. On the one hand, there are those who value that the previous elections in the Valencian Community showed that “there is room” for three left-wing lists that later agree to govern. Although there are those who also sound the alarm about the real risk that the polls indicate that a candidacy for the use of United We Can (We Can with IU) could fall below the 5% required to enter the Courts and weigh down, incidentally, the reissue of a progressive Executive.
From Izquierda Unida they insist on making it clear that their movement “is not detrimental” to an agreement with Podemos, although all parties agree on the impossibility of the hypothetical pact with Compromís including those of Ione Belarra, confronted for years with the of Joan Baldoví and with the candidacy of the Valencian vice president Héctor Illueca already underway. From the Baldoví environment, where they do not close the door to an understanding with the IU that they do describe as “complicated”, they rule out that this approach can also occur with Podemos.
Closed door in Madrid
In Madrid the contacts between Izquierda Unida and Mónica García’s party have been more sporadic than in Valencia. The surveys of the Community governed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso also reflect the risk that a United We Can candidacy this time is below 5% and, therefore, outside the Assembly. In this context, both the regional leadership and the federal leadership of Alberto Garzón’s men have been exploring for some time the possibilities of an agreement with Más Madrid, which, however, they themselves admit is very complicated due to the response they have received from the main party in the Madrid opposition.
“We have the utmost respect for the strategies that other formations take, in the same way that we ask for respect for ours,” point out sources from the party led by Mónica García, who add: “We are not going to deviate an inch or lose a minute in another something other than offering the people of Madrid a government of change. More Madrid is today the leading force of the opposition and alternative to the PP of Ayuso and Almeida. We have built our own green, feminist, social justice political project that looks to the future. And with allied forces such as Verdes Equo, which is with whom we will reissue the electoral alliance”, they comment, closing the door to any other experiment.
From Podemos they coldly receive the movements of their IU partners and turn to accelerate the municipal and regional candidacies regardless of any other process. From the leadership of those from Belarra they publicly point out that their bet is to reach an agreement “with Yolanda Díaz’s new party” in the general elections to be “electoral partners”, but they emphasize that, as the vice president has decided not to participate in the regional and municipal ones, “we will be the one to step forward as the benchmark party of all that left-wing space.” No one rules out, at least for the moment, that in the event that no alliance is materialized in Valencia and Madrid between IU, Compromís and Más Madrid, the United We Can formula can be reissued. Although there are those who point out that the understanding, on this occasion, “will not be easy at all”.
In Izquierda Unida they are respectful of the position of Podemos, emphasizing that “the times of each organization are different and legitimate.” The IU organization secretary does value that his training “provides a solid base to SUMAR and to a unitary process in the state as a whole, with thousands of councilors and hundreds of mayors, and that is why we want to provide territorial roots to the space and demonstrate that what we are doing in the government we do and will continue to do in thousands of municipalities”, he concludes.
