Can Podemos now mark the pace of Sumar: will there be a joint candidacy?

BarcelonaIrene Montero made it official last Saturday that she wanted to head the Podemos candidacy in the next general elections. The announcement was not new, but the fact that she went a step further and showed herself willing to run in open primaries for the entire space to the left of the PSOE to lead a joint list was. It was the first time that the purple party had opened itself so clearly to being part of a joint candidacy after the divorce with Sumar. The formation created by Yolanda Díaz, on the other hand, still does not have a visible face to opt to lead the space. Unlike three years ago, now it is the purple party that is setting the pace for Sumar.

Podemos has been shrinking over the years; it has had an exodus of political officials, especially following the emergence of Sumar, and now there are no fissures in the core that pilots the party. For this reason, the choice of Irene Montero as a candidate has been easy and quick, because there is no internal dissent within the leadership. Until now, the purples had decided that they would run alone, because they considered that in this way each formation defended its positions better. Is the offer of a joint candidacy sincere? The purples launch it from a comfortable position, aware that the rest of the parties in the space do not start from a very advantageous position.

From Sumar, they consider it good news that Podemos is opening itself to building a joint candidacy. Would they accept this time that Montero be part of it? Surely now Sumar is not in a position to veto anyone like in 2023 with the then Minister of Equality. At this moment, they do not even have a visible face to present to the space's primaries, although this week the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has said that he is willing to take a step forward if the membership asks him to. However, according to consulted sources, the party spokesperson refuses to take on this challenge. The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, also opened the door to it when she said this week that she would be willing to return to institutional politics if it were "especially useful". Her name, in fact, is the one that has sounded repeatedly in recent months to lead a joint candidacy. Colau and Montero have always had a relationship of mutual respect.

Electoral perspectives

Be that as it may, Sumar has set this month of October as the deadline to decide the name they want to run to lead a candidacy with, at the very least, Comuns, Més Madrid and Esquerra Unida—which has already activated its internal processes to decide which people will be part of the list—, and with the unknown of Podemos. The latest polls are devastating for this space which, according to the latest CIS, is sinking behind Vox with a 5.7% intention to vote —Podemos remains behind Sumar, with 3.7%, but is growing compared to the last CIS.

There are voices within the space that try to see the positive side and claim that the fact that the polls grant them almost 6% of the votes without having either a brand or a candidate indicates that there is still a way to go. Beyond the results of the PSOE, that this space holds up in the next general elections is key to stopping the rise of the right and the far-right.

The details of the week