The same faces on the left, ten years later

MadridLeft-wing parties have always advocated for a renewal of faces. It was one of the demands that emerged following the questioning of the two-party system that broke out more than ten years ago in the midst of the economic crisis. At that time, for example, Pedro Sánchez, the current president of the Spanish government and leader of the PSOE, was already on the political front line. However, within the space to the left of the socialists, for various reasons, there are leading figures who emerged with the 15-M movement who continue to be on the front line and who have a high profile ahead of the November 29 elections.

The two leading faces are Irene Montero and Ada Colau. The Podemos candidate was number four for the 'morados' in the 2015 elections, was Minister of Equality from 2020 to 2023, was excluded by Yolanda Díaz from the July 23 lists, and is currently a Member of the European Parliament. And the leader of the Broad Front won the Barcelona municipal elections in 2015, was mayor until 2023, and was out of institutional politics since October 2024. Now she has returned to move to Madrid. What has become of the other visible faces from that era?

The 2015 Podemos list was headed by Pablo Iglesias, who left institutional politics in May 2021 after failing as a candidate in the Madrid regional elections while trying to prevent Isabel Díaz Ayuso from continuing at the Puerta del Sol. He is now director of Canal Red and is active in talk shows on different media outlets defending the postulates of the party he founded. The number three on that candidacy was Íñigo Errejón, who ended up leaving after clashing with Pablo Iglesias and, four years later, founded Més Madrid. Now he is one step away from the dock for an alleged sexual assault on the actress Elisa Mouliaá. That list also included, as number seven, Pablo Bustinduy, who has been Minister of Social Rights since November 2023 and is now a spokesperson for the Broad Front campaign.

Comuns in Congress and in Barcelona

In Catalonia, the Comuns candidacy for the Spanish elections of December 2015 was led by Xavier Domènech. In September 2018, when he was a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia, he announced that he was resigning and leaving politics. On that list, there were four other names among the top ten who have continued in the fray. Josep Vendrell was Yolanda Díaz's chief of staff and was involved in the articulation of Sumar as a party, and Aina Vidal was the leader of the Comuns in Congress until a month ago, but she will not repeat as a deputy. Finally, Lucía Martín is a councilwoman in Barcelona and Joan Mena is a councilman in Sabadell, and both are part of the Front Ampli lists.

The common denominator that unites this political space between 2015 and 2026 is Ada Colau. In May 2015, two men who remain active accompanied her as councilors at the Barcelona City Council. Gerardo Pisarello was first deputy mayor for four years and had been the first secretary of the Congressional Bureau for seven years. He will not run again because next year he is the mayoral candidate in Barcelona for the Comuns. And Jaume Asens, who also spent time in Madrid, is currently a member of the European Parliament.

Yolanda Díaz's latest steps

There is another name that has had a lot of prominence, but whose days are numbered. It is that of Yolanda Díaz. She was number two on the En Marea ballot in A Coruña in 2015. She was a member of Congress and climbed the ranks until becoming vice president of the Spanish government in 2021. Pablo Iglesias handed over the baton of the leadership of the Spanish left to her, but she decided to do the bypass to Podemos to create a new platform that she christened with the name Sumar. After the electoral setback in the 2024 European elections, stepped down from organizational responsibility, but has remained at the head of the Ministry of Labor. They will not repeat in Congress and now aspires to preside over the International Labour Organization.

The “eighteen months” of Gabriel Rufián

Another person who entered Congress for the first time after the 2015 elections was Gabriel Rufián, who at that time was a tandem with Joan Tardà in the Republican Left. He was not linked to the 15-M movement, but political rivals often reproach him for saying and repeating before those elections that he would be in Congress for "eighteen months": "There is no plan B, not one day more," he claimed. After eleven years as a deputy, he will now head the ERC list in Madrid for the fifth time and has signed an alliance with Podemos for November 29th.

Andalusia and the Valencian Community

In regional terms, there are also repeated names. In the Valencian Country, Mònica Oltra was the visible face of Compromís. In June 2015, after the Botànic Pact, she became vice president, but she resigned in 2022 following the judicial case against her for the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse by her ex-husband against a minor in care. However, she has also returned and, if nothing changes, she will be the Compromís candidate for mayor of Valencia in May of next year.

And in Andalusia, Antonio Maíllo was the United Left candidate in the regional elections of March 2015, and a year and a half ago he was once again the head of the list for the For Andalusia coalition. Since 2024, he has been the general coordinator of the United Left.