Ada Colau will be the candidate of the Broad Front

BarcelonaThe day after Gabriel Rufián's agreement with ERC to become the party's candidate for the Spanish elections, with an understanding with Podemos included, there have been movements on the Spanish left. Specifically, the four parties of the Broad Front –Sumar, United Left, Más Madrid, and Comuns– have issued a joint statement in which they propose the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, as a candidate for the presidency of the Spanish government.

With this announcement, the Broad Front makes a call "for the unity of all the lefts," which they still see as possible. This Monday, the various groups that make up this candidacy met and made the nomination official because they see in the former mayor and housing activist "the figure who can best assume leadership in the current political situation" for the state elections that will be held on November 29. After Podemos allied with ERC and withdrew from a state alliance, the Broad Front expresses that the purple party "is also invited to be part of this project": "It is time for all organizations to express with clarity their will to contribute to unity. No one is left over here," emphasizes the conglomerate to the left of the PSOE in the disseminated text. Because, adhering to the will they put down in black and white, they intend to count on "all the organizations that converged in 2023," then under the umbrella of Sumar –after leaving behind the United We Can brand–, which not only implies Podemos, but also Compromís, Més, and other parties.

The diagnosis made by the Broad Front is that the State is going through "a historic moment that demands responsibility" and "generosity" to "revalidate the coalition government." Hence the insistence on reproducing the rhetoric of unity, which is also advocated by Rufián –who said this Sunday that he will fight "until the end" to achieve it– and even Podemos. "Unity is the best guarantee to stop the PP and Vox, defend the rights conquered, and continue advancing in the transformation" of Spain, the statement sentences.

One of the drivers of the campaign is the demonstrations for the right to housing following scandals such as the case of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman from Madrid evicted by a fund called Urbagestión who died shortly after. "The encampments and the stories of people like Maricarmen remind us that we have an obligation to live up to what the streets demand," concludes the Broad Front, which wants to open a "new stage of rights conquest." However, there is still a mess in the political space that has not been resolved due to a fratricidal war that could be reflected on November 29th with an extreme division, if it is not reversed.

Calculated operation

Colau's return to the political front line, after withdrawing once Jaume Collboni was invested as mayor of Barcelona together with the PP, is not an entirely new move. Already in mid-September, the former mayor assured that, now yes, she could "reconsider" returning to institutional politics if "at any point it is especially useful to do something specific". At the end of the same month, ARA already published that Colau was willing to take a step forward within the space to the left of the PSOE for the upcoming elections after a change of opinion in recent weeks. At the same time, the fact that Més Madrid proposed her as the candidate for the presidency of Spain last Wednesday was the definitive step for the movement to be finalized, which has been made official today with the involvement of the four parties of the Broad Front (Front Ampli).

One cannot ignore Colau's official proposal regarding the public complaints from Comuns against Rufián. "Gabriel Rufián came to unify the left and is doing everything possible to divide it," Comuns let out, lamenting that the politician from Santa Coloma has been a "disappointment." Rufián has responded forcefully on X, saying that he will roll up his sleeves to achieve "a real collaboration between the sovereignist and Spanish left." It must be remembered that the Republican leader will campaign throughout Spain hand-in-hand with Irene Montero's party, which is not running in Catalonia, but will have representatives on the ERC list as independents. Plans that are not valid for Comuns, who will indeed run in the Principality and want to culminate the agreement throughout the State. In fact, this same Monday, Colau's party recalled that it had received more votes than ERC in 2023.