Goodbye to Yolanda Díaz: she will not be a candidate in the elections again

MadridIt was an open secret, and all that was missing was a date: this Wednesday, Yolanda Díaz chose to announce that she will not be a candidate in the general elections again. She will remain as Vice President of the Spanish government, but will no longer have a leading role in the national left-wing coalition, which has begun to show the results of months of negotiations. In a letter published on her social media, Díaz emphasizes that "the political space that Sumar created remains strong" and also highlights "ambitious" proposals. like the one Gabriel Rufián defendsto broaden this space to include left-wing nationalist and pro-independence parties. Before making the letter public, Díaz had already communicated her decision "to her loved ones, her entire political movement, and the Spanish Prime Minister."

“I always had many reservations about the idea of ​​being a candidate. Politics is tough, especially for women, but I don't regret taking the step. I look back and I'm proud of everything we've achieved collectively, always working to improve people's lives,” she wrote. With her at the helm, Sumar won 31 seats in the 2023 elections, four fewer than Unidas Podemos won in 2019 with Pablo Iglesias leading the coalition. Díaz was, in fact, Iglesias's chosen successor once he left national politics, a decision she later said she regretted.

While they look for ways to form the new electoral coalition The coalition, which will initially include Sumar, Comuns, Más Madrid, and IU, though they hope to convince other parties to the left of the PSOE—Podemos being the most reluctant to join—will also have to find a leader. One of the potential candidates is former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, who has already withdrawn her candidacy for mayor of the Catalan capital and now heads the Sentit Comú Foundation, the Comuns' think tank.