Colau asks Rufián to join the Broad Front

MadridWith the consummation of the calling of the general elections on November 29th, the parties of the old Sumar –recently rebranded and reconfigured as Broad Front– must choose the candidate against the clock. Comuns, United Left, Más Madrid, and Sumar Movement have been working for months to weave the new coalition that must be presented in the elections, but they still lack a key piece: the head of the list. The rumors have been firing up for days, and now knowledgeable sources assure behind the scenes that the white smoke will “undoubtedly” be this week.

Amid the internal debate, the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, who is being mentioned as a possible candidate, has once again defended the need for unity, but has avoided committing to whether she will be the head of the list. She has indeed invited the leader of ERC in Madrid to join the Broad Front list: “There must be as many people and parties as possible, I would like Irene Montero to be there, but also Mònica Oltra, even if she is a mayoral candidate in Valencia, but I would also love for Gabriel Rufián to be there if his party allows him to,” she pointed out in an interview with TVE. “It must be a broad front with many faces and not just one that centralizes everything,” she highlighted before warning that it is necessary to prevent lobbies and the right from focusing their attacks on one person. “If this is the spirit, I will be there as one more,” she said. “It would not be understood if there were not a broad agreement in this plural left to go together or, at the very least, well-coordinated,” she concluded.

One of the names that has also been resonating strongly in the last few hours is that of Mónica García, Minister of Health and leader of Més Madrid. "I am willing to do whatever is necessary to stop the far-right and the speculators, but it does not depend on me, it depends on a consensus and on a space that we have created with a lot of affection, work and respect," she said in an interview with Cadena SER. And she wanted to make it clear that she wants to "respect the decision-making space and the timing" of the future coalition.

Hours later, the four parties appeared together in a press conference and both Mónica García and Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture and one of the visible faces of the Comuns in Madrid, dedicated themselves to dodging the questions despite the journalists' insistence. "I will resort to a classic of Spanish cinema: I am at the disposal of what my political organizations decide and I will be in the battle where my political organizations decide," replied Ernest Urtasun.

For her part, Mónica García, who three months ago was named candidate for Més Madrid in the 2027 regional elections, stressed that decisions will have to be taken "collectively" in the "appropriate places" among all the parties: "I will not speak from my individuality, desire or need. I will speak from the need and desire of the political organizations," she said. "We will put ourselves where we are most useful for the organization and for the desire to be able to renew a progressive government," she insisted. Compromís, Chunta Aragonesista and Més per Mallorca, three parties that are part of the parliamentary group, were also invited to the meeting held by the four parties, but none of them attended.

Another name that has been mentioned for some time is that of Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, especially after his vehement defense of the second housing decree last Friday at the plenary session of Congress. However, at all times he has directly refused to stand as a candidate to lead the ticket. Ernest Urtasun has limited himself to praising that he is a “great asset” to his political space of which they are “very proud”. In recent days, a return operation for Ada Colau has also been activated, who showed herself willing to return to institutional politics if there is a “truly broad left-wing front”. Regarding Gabriel Rufián, who is “reflecting” on what his role should be on November 29th, Ernest Urtasun has argued that they are articulating “the alternative left in Spain”, and has acknowledged that the sovereignist parties will also be “essential” to renew the progressive government.

Podem reiterates the proposal to hold primaries

In parallel, Podemos has returned to put on the table its own roadmap: to hold primaries to choose who leads the space to the left of the PSOE. The candidate for the 'lilacs', Irene Montero, has proposed to the rest of the parties that the head of the list be chosen in open primaries on October 14 and 15: “Since there is no time to lose, we offer open primaries in which everyone can vote to choose among all this candidacy of the social majority”, she justified. The deadline to register coalitions is Friday the 16th, and the margin to present the lists –with the names of the candidates– ends on Monday the 26th.

For the moment, however, the Broad Front is avoiding a “debate through the media” regarding this proposal: “If anyone wants to make any proposal, there is a chair available to come and make the proposals they consider appropriate,” replied Ernest Urtasun. Off the record, sources from Moviment Sumar reiterate that Podemos “has the door open,” but they avoid specifying the lines of communication between the two spaces. That said, they criticize that “restricting and circumscribing” alliances to a question of names is “reductionist”.