State left-wing parties fail to reach an agreement to go together on 29-N

Madrid / BarcelonaWith time already exhausted, the divorce of the state left-wing parties has been consummated. The negotiations between Broad Front and Podemos to run together in the November 29th elections have failed—there will only be unitary lists in the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community. "The Broad Front has done everything possible to build the broadest and most diverse political alliance possible," they noted past midnight from the party that, among others, is led by Ada Colau. Midnight was the deadline to register coalitions for the state elections on November 29th. Now, it will still be necessary to define the lists of candidates that must be presented before October 26th.

"Throughout this process, our hand has always been extended to the rest of the transformative left-wing forces in our country, such as Podemos. We have worked for unity without red lines and with generosity and honesty," defend those from the Broad Front, who claim to have reached other consensuses with up to 15 different political formations. "We have proposed all options without red lines. They did not want to accept the proposal. They are within their rights. We are 15 organizations. We wanted to be 16. One did not want to," assert those from Ada Colau's candidacy.

Podemos defends the agreement with ERC

Almost in stoppage time, the Broad Front made a last-minute offer to Podemos to try to save the situation: a "priority" spot on the lists in Barcelona and Madrid. But the purple party ruled it out: through a statement made public at eleven o'clock at night, Podemos asked to leave the Spanish and Catalan capitals out of the equation and focus on achieving unity in the rest of the territories. The offers became public because, in private, the situation was completely deadlocked.

In the Catalan case, and from what the Broad Front has hinted in recent days, the candidate for the presidency would have been Ada Colau (Broad Front) and Irene Montero would be placed "at number 2 or 3" on the candidacy for Madrid –Emilio Delgado would be number 1–. Podemos, however, recalled in its statement this Friday night the pact in Catalonia with ERC and ruled out breaking it: "Podemos values the collaboration agreed upon with ERC [...] and the participation of Gabriel Rufián [...]. We do not accept the demand to break this alliance that is implicit in the proposal you have sent us", the statement read in reference to the approach by the Broad Front.

The unity of the left of the PSOE achieved in some territories –in the Valencian Country, for example, Compromís, Podemos, United Left and Republican Left have reached an agreement to run with a single list on 29-N–, became, therefore, a utopia in Madrid and Barcelona.

However, the Broad Front's latest offer to Podemos also provided that in the Valencian Country, in Aragon, and in the Canary Islands, the parties would run jointly with Compromís, the Chunta Aragonesista and New Canaries (this is already closed, except in Aragon, where Podemos is out of the candidacy). "Podemos would have one of the spokespersons of the future parliamentary group and an equitable distribution of resources", added the Broad Front in its proposal.

'In extremis' negotiation

At seven in the evening this Friday, the leader of Comuns, Ada Colau, was still wandering around Congress after meeting with representatives of Front Ampli, as well as Esquerra Unida and Comuns to try to reach an understanding.

The difficulty of a consensus, however, was growing slowly: by mid-afternoon, both Podem and Front Ampli were sending out the agenda for their events in Madrid for this Saturday separately. In fact, Colau and the rest of the members of Front Ampli are presenting their political project in public: “We are having a very nice Saturday,” was stated in the call.

The leadership of the candidacy, how the places with possibilities of obtaining a seat in Congress are distributed, and which political project must articulate the unity have been the main obstacles, at least as far as Madrid and Barcelona are concerned, which the political forces to the left of the PSOE have had to face to constitute a unitary alternative that does not dilute the identity of each one.

During the negotiation, Podem has never wanted to focus on either Madrid or Barcelona, but rather on the rest of the territories, and for this reason they have constantly looked at Esquerra Unida, whom they have appealed to in order to reach territorial agreements outside of Front Ampli. A strategy, they believe from Colau's candidacy, to “dismember” their lists. Esquerra Unida has rejected this.

The purple formation has also limited itself to recalling that they also made a proposal for all the left-wing parties to participate in the party's open primaries, and that they were resolved this Friday (only Irene Montero stood as a candidate in Madrid).

Agreement in the Valencian Country

In the Valencian Country, the disagreements were overcome on Friday at noon. Finally, there will be a single left-wing candidacy with Compromís, Podem, and Esquerra Unida. Esquerra Republicana in the Valencian Country has also given its support, unlike what the party has decided to do in Catalonia with the Comuns – in the Valencian case, ERC's role is residual.

At the beginning, the negotiations had become complicated because Esquerra Unida of the Valencian Country – legally it is an autonomous formation – rejected Compromís's proposal. But after the intervention of the party's state leadership, a consensus has been reached: the coalition will be named Compromís-Front Valencià.

Agreement in Aragon and the Balearic Islands

In Aragon, the Chunta Aragonesista will join the Broad Front coalition, just as Ara Més will in the Balearic Islands. Meanwhile, in Andalusia, United Left, Sumar, Initiative for the Andalusian People, and Equo Greens will also run together under the umbrella of the Broad Front for Andalusia. The sovereignist party Forward Andalusia will run alone.

“The agreements demonstrate that it is possible to build broad candidacies, respectful of the plurality and identity of each territory,” celebrated sources from the Broad Front. Where there has been a unitary agreement is in the Canary Islands under the brand of Unity of the Canarian People.