Rufián contradicts ERC and states that he is working for a unitary candidacy with the Commons

BarcelonaAfter announcing that Gabriel Rufián will be their candidate for the next general elections, ERC held a press conference this Tuesday to rule out any collaboration with state-wide left-wing parties that goes beyond incorporating people from Podemos into their lists. In fact, the party's spokesperson, Isaac Albert, avoided answering the Comuns' criticisms regarding the alliance with the purple party and once again closed the door to being part of the state-wide Broad Front coalition being negotiated by Sumar, Comuns, Esquerra Unida, and Més Madrid. However, the words of the republican leader were contradicted by Rufián himself in a post on X: "ERC and Comuns must talk, listen to each other, and understand one another to unblock the situation. Beyond vetoes and hatreds that matter to no one. And I am committed to that. And I will do it until the end". "What cannot be the case is that the way to respond to the far-right is to dilute the ERC acronym. ERC will run in Catalonia as ERC", Albert replied to him at the press conference.

Gabriel Rufián has once again verbalized this Tuesday what he has been defending for months: a global agreement between all state-wide and pro-independence left-wing parties that serves to stop the far-right. A thesis that his party, ERC, rejects. However, for Rufián to continue being their candidate for the general elections, both sides reached an agreement that involves an alliance with Podemos for ERC to incorporate people from the purple party into ERC's lists and, in exchange, for them not to run in Catalonia. Furthermore, republicans and the purple party also agreed that Rufián and Montero would hold joint events in Barcelona and Madrid —Isaac Albert specified that ERC will open and close the campaign in Catalonia, but did not detail which events they will hold together—. Rufián, however, is not satisfied. "It makes no sense to call for Broad Fronts for Madrid and not want them for Catalonia", he stated in the same post. In fact, this Monday he already published a message to the same effect when he assured that he would continue working for an alliance of all the left-wing parties "until the end".

Be that as it may, this week ERC must close all candidacies for the general elections, both for the Congress and the Senate. And this involves bringing together the candidates that emerge from the different territorial assemblies and placing them on the different lists. Rufián will head the list for Barcelona, where deputy Jordi Albert will also be —it is the name that the leadership had considered as a plan B for Rufián— and the rest of the names that emerge from the territorial assemblies, in some of which the leadership is promoting names trusted by Rufián. It is in this candidacy for Barcelona and also in that of Tarragona where there will be people from Podem —they will not be in Girona and Lleida—, although Albert has assured that Podem has not demanded that they be in winning positions.

Internal criticism over the agreement with Podem

The agreement between ERC and Podemos has not pleased everyone among the republicans. Former minister Dolors Bassa has voiced the criticisms, stating in an interview with TV3 that she finds it hard "to understand that Podemos can be on the ERC list and that Rufián campaigns outside of Catalonia". In fact, she regretted that the pact with the 'purples' was not consulted among the ERC grassroots and that the party has placed itself, in her view, "at the service" of Rufián, and not the other way around. Albert defended that an internal consultation was not necessary because ERC has not signed any coalition with Podemos. "The lists will be voted on in an executive and national council," she added.

Bassa has defended that one can vote like Podemos on social issues, but has reclaimed the pro-independence character of Esquerra and insisted: "That they go together is hard for me to understand". In this sense, Albert has defended that the framework of the alliance with Podemos is the "collaboration to stop the extreme right" and has assured that Podemos defends the right to decide. Bassa, however, has attributed the decision to the "electoral calculations" of Podemos and the desire for Rufián to remain "calm" with what he has been "preaching" in recent months. In the last few hours, there are militants who have made public through X that they were unsubscribing from the party after this agreement with Podemos.

Podem's contacts with the Broad Front

In parallel, with three days left until the deadline for submitting coalitions for the Spanish elections, the formations to the left of the PSOE are resisting giving up on unity. The different parties maintain the objective after a long weekend of cross-announcements, with the Rufián-Podem agreement, on one hand, and the choice of Ada Colau as the presidential candidate for the Broad Front, on the other. The Podemos candidate, Irene Montero, one of the most belligerent voices in the tug-of-war between the different spaces of the Spanish left, has admitted that "conversations" remain open with the Broad Front. "Yes, there are always conversations," she said in statements to Cadena SER. And she added: "There are few days left, and the most important thing is that we take care of things and try to ensure they finally reach a successful conclusion."

Montero, who has avoided polemicizing with the Broad Front formations – Sumar, Comuns, Esquerra Unida, and Més Madrid –, has invited these parties to join the "collaboration framework" closed with ERC. "Of course it is open to them [...]. We must continue working so that many more people are there and so that the candidacy represents this majority of the left that wants the price of rent and the cost of living to go down." "We will continue talking and trying all forms of collaboration," she said subsequently to TVE.

The Podemos candidate made these statements after the coordinator of the Sumar Movement, Verónica Barbero, stated on Telecinco that they trust in unity despite Rufián's move — whom she criticized for his "change of opinion" when sealing an alliance with Podemos. "The Broad Front is the unity of the left, and obviously all political organizations that want to are invited to participate, including Podemos," she said. And she was even clearer: "We want Podemos to be part of it, because we understand that what the public expects is that we can revalidate a coalition government." The 'purples', for now, rule out integrating themselves into the candidacy around Sumar.

Friday, the deadline

Cross-reproaches and criticisms do not help in negotiations, especially if they are against the clock, because on the 16th, this Friday, the deadline to present coalitions for the elections ends. Wednesday and Thursday the primaries to elect candidates that Podemos has decided to push forward despite the disagreement expressed by the Broad Front will be held. These are primaries open to all citizens, and in which one can vote through the Primarias.info website.