Irene Montero 'sends' Yolanda Díaz to the PSOE

MadridIn response to Sumar's offer to form a unified list, Podemos responded a week later by naming Irene Montero as its candidate for the next general elections. This choice is no surprise, but it is significant that it was announced two years—theoretically—before the elections. Not even Pedro Sánchez has confirmed his candidacy. The former Minister of Equality and current MEP is considered the main political asset and leader of the purple party, even though Ione Belarra is its general secretary. The veto that Yolanda Díaz imposed on the elections of July 23, 2023, due to errors in the law of only yes is yes It grants Montero special status, and now all the pressure is on the Sumar leader in the face of a possible negotiation. "Those who share a government should run together in the elections because they are the closest in terms of their program," Montero noted in an interview on RTVE. In other words, she has "sent" Yolanda Díaz to the PSOE.

One of the reasons Podemos has moved ahead is because Pedro Sánchez has already shown that he is unpredictable. Although he repeatedly says he will complete his term, the purple party is clear that the Spanish president will push the button when it suits him best. And if he believes it would be better for him to coincide the general elections with the Andalusian elections next year, he will do so. One possibility is that the Spanish government will fail to pass any budget this term: it did not present the 2024 budget because it was barely the beginning of the mandate, and neither did the 2025 budget because Junts overturned the spending ceiling last summer. Since then, the talks have not progressed, and in the absence of support, Sánchez prefers not to receive any corrective action from Congress. As for 2026, the increase in defense spending complicates support, and Podemos's four votes are crucial. With Montero's appointment, the party's opposition position is further strengthened.

It remains to be seen whether Sánchez advances the elections or not. Meanwhile, Podemos is already launching the internal battle within the left-wing space of the PSOE. Díaz has not yet decided whether she will run in the elections and under what umbrella: what was intended to be Sumar—a confluence of various forces from different regions such as the Comuns, Compromís, Más por Mallorca, Más Madrid, Chunta Aragonesista, etc.—has failed, and Díaz is now part of another mainstream party, Movimiento Sumar. Podemos has also been losing ground in the autonomous regions, although it still maintains some militancy, and is playing the card of leadership confrontation, which, on the other hand, is also nothing new considering what Pablo Iglesias represented and the pyramidal behavior that has characterized the party.

The veto in Montero

In this context, Podemos believes it has the upper hand because—they understand—the Sumar experiment has failed and Díaz's veto of Montero has been confirmed to be a mistake. Wouldn't it have been better for the Minister of Labor to give in and accept Montero's continued membership in the Council of Ministers, even if she wasn't in the Department of Equality? In this way, the strong opposition Podemos now faces in Congress would have been defused. At least, this is the thesis put forward by the purple party and also by prominent voices linked to the PSOE. According to the Iglesias in an interview on Sunday in the ARA, the Spanish second vice president "is the last person who would be electorally competitive" today and also stated that she cannot imagine herself "going down to the Hunger Games as the leader of a very small party." "The positions of Podemos and Sumar are very different," Montero insisted this Monday.

The approach that the former Podemos leader was putting forward is that sectors of Sumar close to the PSOE take the step of leaving and that those who feel closer to the purple party join a candidacy led by Montero. "I'm a little fed up with Iglesias and Montero telling me what we should do and what we should be. In 2021, I told Iglesias that politics is not a Netflix movie, and now I'm telling both of them that it's not a ball pit either," reacted the leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García. In Catalonia, the Commons admitted this Monday that "advancing debates for the remaining two years is not helpful" and were backing a "broad" candidacy that would allow them to hold off the PP and Vox. Indeed, in the European elections, Montero garnered more votes in Catalonia than Sumar (which was not the case in Spain as a whole), which placed Jaume Asens as the leader. "In a general election, I think Montero would have more votes than any Commons candidate in Catalonia. They will decide who they want to go with," Iglesias urged them in the interview with ARA. With the Podemos movement, the ball is now in Yolanda Díaz's court.