Over the last three years, Sumar, today refounded in Frente Amplio, has been immersed in a difficult balancing act: governing with the PSOE, making it clear that it is not the PSOE, that "languid social democracy", as Minister Mónica García defined it just a few months ago. There have been several times that in space they have gained muscle after managing to extract some measure from the socialists, measures that today, they denounce, Pedro Sánchez arrogates. During these days of pre-campaign, a hardening has been seen in their speech against their Executive partner, especially after the accident in Urda: they were the first, even ahead of the PP, to ask for the resignation of Minister Óscar Puente. However, although they insist on establishing themselves as the "true left" against the PSOE, they also do not ignore that the party will end up being an irremediable ally whatever the result of the November 29 elections.
The space calibrates the message these days so as not to incur contradictions. The plan is to fish in the PSOE's fishing ground, presenting itself as a set of clean formations that contrast with a legislature clearly marred by corruption in socialist ranks, but they also do not ignore that part of their electorate gives them their confidence to revalidate "a progressive coalition government" in which the Frente Amplio ministers continue to tighten the screws on those of the PSOE.
This week, the space candidate, Ada Colau, attacked once again against the party of President Pedro Sánchez by ensuring that the high levels of social inequality have been aggravated by the policies of "the ministries that have been led by the PSOE", mainly those of Housing and Finance. The muscle: "The difference in this Government has been made by Sumar's ministers." And immediately afterwards, reality, inexorable: "If Frente Amplio enters Congress with force and we are decisive for there to be another progressive Government, the homes will be for living, not for speculating."
In Frente Amplio they are aware that any kind of influence on the governability of the country once again requires them to agree with the PSOE no matter how much they try to tickle them in the coming days of the campaign. In the same way, given the more than real possibility that 29N will draw a Parliament with a conservative majority and a Government of PP and Vox, both the space and the socialists will have to join forces in one way or another to serve as a counterweight to their policies.
The clear example is the Senate, where PSOE and Frente Amplio have merged their acronyms to present themselves as a coalition on the ballot as the Senate of progress. In a clear pre-campaign atmosphere, the plurinational alliance attacked the "languid social democracy" of the socialists, but in parallel it made agreements with them. From Frente Amplio they do not think that this agreement goes against their electoral pretensions, since the objective of its subscription is ulterior: to stop the right. "It would be irresponsible not to have achieved it. We cannot allow the PP and Vox to add a three-fifths majority [with which to reform, for example, the composition of the Constitutional Court]," explain sources from the alliance.
However, movements like this are not ignored by formations like Podemos, which takes advantage of any situation to load itself with reasons that allow it to establish itself as the "strong and autonomous left of the PSOE." Without going any further, this same Friday the candidate of the purple formation, Irene Montero, attacked Frente Amplio for its "closeness" to the socialists and asserted that they have preferred to agree with them in the Upper House than to reach an agreement with them to avoid the dispersion of the leftist vote. A few days ago, it was the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, who presented Frente and PSOE as indistinguishable forces.
"The agreements of PP and Vox and of PSOE and Frente Amplio for the Senate are bipartisanship 2.0. It is more of the same and whoever has been the main cause of most of the problems that this country has, which is bipartisanship, is not going to be part of the solution," he assured. The plurinational alliance attends these attacks without concern. They assume that during the campaign Podemos will use messages of this type to try to harm them, but they do not think that it will translate into a loss of votes.
The campaign is back
Ask anyone who asks, the answer is almost identical: the tragic accident in Urda has caused the campaign, which officially begins on the 13th, to enter another dimension. Before the railway disaster, it seemed like it was already taking flight, but the feeling is back to square one. Once the days of mourning have passed, the 69 deceased have been identified, and, above all, Minister Óscar Puente has resigned, Frente Amplio agree that the electoral agenda must be resumed, of course with investment in infrastructure in the center.
"We must continue, with a lot of respect, but we must continue," says a leader of the space, who also points out that Puente's resignation has been "the turning point" to degrease the electoral machine. Without going any further, Frente Amplio refers to next Wednesday, when a very important general strike for housing will be held 18 days before elections that from the beginning they have presented as "a referendum on housing."
This week, the space has been announcing its star measures in terms of housing and taxation. The candidate, Ada Colau, has proposed the creation of a specific wealth tax for the ultra-rich through which those who accumulate one million euros must pay taxes at 2% and those who exceed 50 million, at 3%. Colay has framed this measure, which is complementary to the existing wealth tax, in the international slogan tax the rich, a movement for tax justice and reduction of inequality. On the other hand, he has also proposed increasing the effective rate of profits for large companies and banks, given that "today they pay between 7 and 9%, while SMEs pay taxes at 19 or 20%." To do this, he explained this Thursday, "the tax relief that large groups benefit from will be reviewed."
