Ada Colau says that she will only be a candidate if Podemos joins the Broad Front: "The citizenry is asking for one ballot"

BarcelonaFormer mayor Ada Colau has said that she is willing to be a candidate in the general elections if the Broad Front grows and incorporates Podemos and the rest of the alternative left-wing parties to the PSOE. The day after Més Madrid proposed her as a presidential candidate for the November 29th general elections, Colau made it clear that she would accept heading the list, but conditioned it on a transversal agreement that goes beyond Sumar, Més Madrid, United Left, and the Commons: "I have been asked, and I have said that if we are all there, I will be there too. But we must all be there," she said in an interview with TVE, and added: "A broad front means adding the diversity of left-wing proposals with a common program." "The citizenry is asking for just one ballot," she asserted, and called for an effort so that the alternative left to the PSOE presents itself with a single brand.

Colau, who has railed against the "egos" and "crossed vetoes" that have prevented unity in previous elections, has rejected leading a project that repeats "previous experiences." "I am deeply honored that I am being considered as a consensus candidate [...], but we must concentrate our efforts so that the Broad Front is a Broad Front," she insisted. Colau's name has gained strength in recent hours as a consensus option due to the good relationship she maintains with Irene Montero, a hurdle in past negotiations, and whom Podemos has already positioned as head of the list for the elections. In the interview, in fact, the former mayor admitted that she does not consider it possible that the current MEP for the purple party will not be part of the potential single candidacy of the left in the general elections. "We must sit down and we cannot get up until there is a consensus," she insisted later in an interview with SER.

Regarding the decision to step forward after several years away from institutional politics, Colau has argued that she has felt challenged by an "exceptional historical context," marked by the growth of the extreme right, the increase in hate speech and, also, the social emergency regarding housing. "This has consequences for people's lives," she said, and added: "I refuse to resign myself and let the extreme right govern." Regarding housing, and after lamenting the death of Maricarmen Abascal, Colau outlined the lines of what her speech would be if she finally becomes a presidential candidate: in her opinion, the "greatly responsible" for the current situation are the speculators, but "also the administrations," she said, pointing to the PSOE and calling on governments to "expand the limits of intervention" in the real estate market.