Podemos feels stronger after its electoral collaboration agreement with ERC and for which Gabriel Rufián will campaign in the rest of Spain for the purple ones. So the party led by Ione Belarra is entrenched in its demand to place Irene Montero as a candidate for the unity list of the left in its negotiations with the Frente Amplio. Something that the parties that make up the alliance do not accept because they love Ada Colau.
For Podemos, Rufián and Montero form "the starting team" in the elections that "can go out and win this match" over PP and Vox. This is a statement that detracts from Colau's option as a reference, which is the firm commitment that the four parties that currently make up the Broad Front (IU, Más Madrid, Comunes and Movimiento Sumar) made yesterday.
Therefore, the clash is evident. The main obstacle in the negotiations between the two sectors of the alternative left is who leads the unity candidacy and what role each one plays in it. Podemos wants to lead because it also aims to set the line to follow, which is different in the way of relating to the PSOE.
For its part, Frente Amplio claims that the candidate has to emerge from the consensus of the parties and the person who brings it together is Colau. She has not yet confirmed that she accepts that role. The former mayor of Barcelona has been linking that position with the entry of Podemos into the alliance, so whether she says or not that she assumes taking that step even without waiting for the purple ones would be relevant. For now, her partner Gerardo Pisarello, very close to her, has three times avoided stating today whether Colau has accepted the Frente Amplio's request.
Podemos insists that Rufián and Montero are its electoral assets. "It seems to me that the tandem Gabriel Rufián and Irene Montero is the best team to do what needs to be done, to put a foot back on the left, so that we are really able to stop the extreme right and advance rights," Belarra defended, completely ignoring the Colau route, in a press conference in Congress.
With different approaches to goals and projects, the crucial battle is being fought over chairs. That is, for the positions on the electoral lists. Podemos now uses Rufián's letter as an order to accept Montero as leader, arguing that the favorite figure of left-wing voters loves her and will campaign for her.
The situation is very tangled between Podemos and the Frente Amplio, despite the fact that both parties recognize that there are conversations to seek a unity agreement and that they mutually send the message that this is what the people on the streets expect.
The purple ones insist on dialogue not with the Frente Amplio as a bloc but individually with the parties that make it up. For this reason, Irene Montero has today ruled out an "integration" of Podemos within the Broad Front and its dynamics, since only the hypothesis of electoral collaboration is contemplated. That, of course, would not be a problem to negotiate. It only accounts for the level of involvement of the collaboration.
It is true that there are big differences such as the project for which it is agreed, and for which Podemos would not want an integration. Frente Amplio works to build a unity project that is stable over time and in which organizations relate in a more egalitarian manner and institutionalizing their relationship through joint leadership (such as a party table) where decisions are also made by consensus or, if there is no agreement, through democratic channels (voting) that move everyone as a bloc.
On the other hand, there are consequences of the pact between Podemos and ERC that have made things more difficult. Comunes refuses to join the ERC electoral lists and, therefore, there will be electoral competition between both candidates.
The situation is extremely strange. For Podemos, its official reference in Catalonia will be ERC and it will campaign for the independence party. But if the purple formation makes an agreement with the Frente Amplio, Comunes would be an ally and at the same time a rival. And if Colau ended up being a candidate from Barcelona and not from Madrid, the confusion would reach unprecedented levels.
Pisarello, from Comunes, opened the door this Tuesday to seeking a collaboration with ERC that would even involve "looking province by province" so that the left has the best possible result. This would imply that the Commons would withdraw from some constituencies in Catalonia where they have fewer options in order to maximize results.
Speaking in general about Podemos and the left, the Comunes spokesperson pointed out that we must look for "generosity" and "pragmatism" and has assured that work is being done in that direction, putting emphasis on what "unites" them and not on what "differentiates" them. "If there is a will to make agreements, they can be achieved," he said.
