Who will and who won't attend Rufián's event in Madrid?

MadridMadrid is abuzz with Gabriel Rufián's proposal, one of the main topics on the media agenda. The leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) in Congress will headline an event this Wednesday in the Galileo Galilei hall with Emilio Delgado, leader of Más Madrid, with the intention of reigniting the debate on left-wing unity in the upcoming elections. This discussion has caught both ERC and Más Madrid off guard.The management does not look favorably upon it no alliance with the state-based left – such as the Sumar space, which he is launching on Saturday with Más Madrid, Izquierda Unida and Comunes the renewal of their electoral alliance. In fact, Rufián has only received the public endorsement of the former mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau.

Rufián's presence or absence at this event has generated differing opinions within the parties he is appealing to, so it will be crucial to see who attends and who doesn't at the rally he will hold with Delgado in Madrid. This is especially true considering that, according to the organizers, confirmed attendees have already exceeded expectations.

Those who will be

Representatives from the Sumar Movement, Más Madrid, and Comunes, the political space led by Yolanda Díaz in 2023, have indicated they will attend the event. Some presence is also expected from Compromís, according to organizational sources, although not from the majority faction of the Valencianist coalition. In any case, the participating groups have not specified who their representatives will be, which will be relevant in gauging the importance they attach to the event. Sumar, for example, does not anticipate any top-level leaders attending.

Lara Hernández, spokesperson for Yolanda Díaz's party, defended the participation of Delgado and Rufián in the dialogue yesterday, arguing that it has opened a debate on the future of the left that "is not artificial." Manuela Bergerot, spokesperson for Más Madrid, added, "I hope it highlights the need to propose a democratic alternative to the reactionary bloc represented by Madrid and Spanish Trumpism." Aina Vidal, of the Comuns party, was more reluctant to join anything new: "If he wants to come, let him come," she said, alluding to the coalition that the Sumar group will present on Saturday at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. In other words, Vidal believes that if Rufián wants a left-wing alliance, he should join the one they are putting together. However, the ERC leader in Madrid has already made it clear that he will not appear on Saturday. Sources from the Republican parliamentary group in Congress, cited by ACN, express "utmost respect" for the initiative, but decline to be part of the coalition. What Rufián is proposing is not to join Sumar, since he believes that the "leadership" should be held by the autonomist, sovereignist, and pro-independence left-wing forces. That is to say, EH Bildu, Compromís, and BNG, among others, which until now have been considered peripheral. These are groups, in any case, that are not currently in favor of the initiative.

Those who will not be

Despite Rufián's push for this common front, the Esquerra leadership is declining any alliance that would require abandoning its own party name. In fact, it's significant that the party's president, Oriol Junqueras, is not attending Wednesday's event in Madrid. When asked about it at a press conference on Monday, Junqueras said he hadn't been invited and added, "What some people are saying or proposing, we're already doing," referring to the alliances they already have in the European elections—in which Spain is a single electoral constituency—with other parties in Spain. And what about the other parties to the left of the PSOE? Yesterday, Podemos also ruled out attending and dismissed the event as a "talk." Spokesperson Pablo Fernández downplayed the importance of the initiative precisely because it lacks Esquerra's support and asserted that he will be campaigning for the Castile and León elections. Esquerra Unida has also responded negatively to the invitation, arguing that it was not invited. Neither the majority faction of Compromís nor Més Mallorca will be present, the latter considering the initiative unclear. However, these last two parties will attend the presentation of the Sumar alliance on Saturday, the same alliance they used in previous elections. The debate within this alliance is not about the alliance itself, but about leadership: the forces that supported Yolanda Díaz no longer see her as a leader capable of reviving the left. They are now forced to look for another figurehead.