ERC will incorporate Podemos candidates into the lists for the general elections

BarcelonaThis Sunday Gabriel Rufián and the national leadership of ERC led by Oriol Junqueras announced a pact that allows the politician from Santa Coloma de Gramenet to once again be placed as the party's head of the list in the general elections. The agreement involved the collaboration of Podemos and it was this Monday that the deal was made official between the Catalan party and the purple party with a joint statement that specifies the terms of the operation: Podemos will contribute to the ERC candidacy in Catalonia and Rufián will campaign with Irene Montero as a "team" with the goal of "standing up to reactionism", just as sources from the republican leadership had already confirmed since this Sunday. At the same time, republican sources are already specifying that there will be people from Montero's party on the lists as independents. What has Junqueras conceded and what has Rufián conceded to reach the agreement?

There is no left-wing coalition

Rufián toured with several leftist leaders across the State to advocate for a kind of popular front like the one in 1936. The moment is, according to his diagnosis, exceptional enough for all leftist forces to unite to try to stop the arrival of the PP and Vox at the Moncloa. In an event in Barcelona with the leader of Podemos, Irene Montero, he clearly defended the unity of sovereignist leftists with the Spanish ones: "We must talk, we must join together, what United We Can did a few years ago was extraordinary, why can't it be repeated? Why can't ERC inspire this Spanish left? If not, they will kill us separately," said the republican spokesperson at the time.

This is not the project that Rufián finally brought to the ERC table. The party has agreed to limit the understanding to Podemos, but not in the form of a coalition. According to the joint statement, Podemos will contribute to the Esquerra candidacy in Catalonia, while Rufián and Montero will share campaign events. The organizations argue that this means "adding efforts, with our own voice and shared objectives." Thus, they summarize that "collaboration between leftist forces to stop the far right, defend the country, and protect the rights of the citizenry is indispensable." Meanwhile, the Broad Front, on which several leftist forces are working and which could end up being led by Ada Colau, remains a differentiated initiative with which ERC will compete at the polls.

In fact, Comuns has reaffirmed in a statement: "We will run in the general elections in Catalonia as we have always done. We were the second most voted force in the 2023 general elections," they recalled. In this line, they have expressed "disappointment" with Rufián because "he came to unify the leftists and is doing everything possible to divide them." They believe, however, that Ada Colau can be "the leadership that can help push and make a unitary Broad Front possible."

Rufián has defended a broader understanding among the leftists, but the republicans' statement does not specify whether the collaboration with Podemos could be extended to other forces. For the moment, the agreement does not foresee that ERC will gather all the leftists of the State under its acronym. Junqueras had already warned that "he had not gone to prison for Ada Colau to be an ERC candidate".

Trusted team

In the negotiations, Rufián had made a request that highlights the internal struggle within the parliamentary group in Madrid: he demanded a trusted team. That is to say, that the candidates for Congress and the members in starting positions should be close to him. ERC has warned him that they cannot guarantee this and that it will have to be settled by the party's federations, but it is certainly true that numerous critics of Rufián have resigned or have been relocated. For example, Jordi Salvador and Pilar Vallugera are leaving the lower house, while Francesc-Marc Álvaro –who is indeed a Junquerista but distant from the one from Santa Coloma– will head the list for the Senate. There are also other names that will make up the list that Rufián has put on the table and whom the party has committed to helping. However, in Girona, for example, Teresa Jordà, very distant from Rufián, will fight the battle with Etna Estrems to be the head of the ticket in the constituency.

More influence on decisions in Madrid

It has not transpired how they have resolved another of the points of conflict: Rufián was asking to have more autonomy and influence in all decisions that have to do with the Congress of Deputies and the activity in Madrid. It is one of the unknowns that will need to be resolved, given that the republican leadership has not yet clarified whether this demand will materialize in any way. Be that as it may, the party will not renounce having the final say in relevant decisions in Madrid.

Campaign in Spain

Rufián is the most coveted leftist leader in the State and he is aware of the repercussions that his messages and interventions have. Although he has never publicly shown a willingness to lead the state's left-wing parties, he has been giving hints that he wanted to get involved in the project. So one of the issues he has achieved in the negotiation with ERC is that the party accepts that he also campaigns in Spain. Right now sharing space at least with Podemos, a party that this same legislature has opposed the singular financing of Catalonia –and also the pact for the new model promoted by ERC and the PSOE– and the transfer of powers on immigration. According to the joint statement made public this Monday, Rufián and Irene Montero will team up in campaign events for the general elections of November 29. This morning the former leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, stressed in an interview with RNE that Rufián will be able to act as a "symbolic reference" in the State and has stated that an agreement between the rest of the state's left-wing parties is still possible.