Yolanda Díaz, the other figure in the Spanish government who has been targeted

MadridFor months, Sumar has seen its electoral prospects plummet in the polls. Hence, one of the party's strategic objectives is to ensure that Yolanda Díaz's brand is identified as the driving force of social progress within the Spanish government. The reduction of the working day plays a central role in this goal. Such importance has been given to it, as the Second Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of Labor toured various parts of the country before the summer to promote it, and the party designed a specific campaign to promote it with the slogan "Work less, live better." Díaz has become deeply involved, while the PSOE has remained in the background, facing a proposal that Sumar uses to establish its own profile within the coalition. For all these reasons, this Wednesday's defeat in Congress is above all a first for Díaz.

The PSOE, therefore, disassociates itself from the failure of a bill bearing the Sumar label and negotiated with Junts through the Ministry of Labor. Socialist sources deny that this is a defeat attributable to the Spanish government as a whole and point to Sumar's clumsy management of the negotiation timing. However, the majority of the executive has avoided publicly pointing fingers at Díaz and has limited itself to defending the measure without drawing blood. Nor have they gone after Carles Puigdemont's party, whom they still need to guarantee governability in the state and approve new budgets. This attitude of the Socialists differs from the belligerence displayed by the vice president in the debate on the Junts amendment. Díaz raised her tone against the junts, with whom she was very harsh, and deployed a vocabulary—with references to the "red thread of history," the "struggle of the working class," and against "capital"—more left-leaning than on other occasions.

Why this action? Socialist sources attribute it to the fact that Díaz had been deeply involved in a negotiation that ended in disappointment and say they understand her anger, although they hope she will be redirected so as not to jeopardize the bridges with Junts. It is also explained, for their part, by Sumar's desire to turn the parliamentary defeat into an electoral boost. Sumar has called for mobilization—to which the unions already responded this Wednesday—and Díaz's high-voltage speech fits with the climate of demands the party hopes to instill among citizens. Sources within Sumar, in fact, believe this setback may even benefit them because it ignites a new flame and gives them the long-awaited visibility associated with a demand that enjoys widespread social acceptance. It is an issue on which, moreover, all the parties comprising the parliamentary group agree, and it allows them to overcome the internal divisions generated by other issues.

Thus, Sumar and Díaz will continue to pressure with the goal of "reclaiming" the streets, keeping an eye on the next electoral cycle. However, this mobilizing indignation coexists with the frustration of the progressive electorate at seeing how, in practice, the political space to the left of the PSOE has not been able to pass this measure, despite much noise in its defense. Within Díaz's party, however, they claim that this week they can point to other achievements in social progress, such as having managed to pass the decree extending maternity and childcare leave in this Tuesday's session in Congress. The direct attack directed earlier this week by the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu against both Díaz and the United Left minister, Sira Rego, is also seen as another push against that space that has made denouncing the genocide in Gaza another of its banners. This one, in direct competition with the PSOE.

Lost Popularity

One of Junts' arguments to discredit Díaz was that her insistence on approving a text that, in the opinion of the Junts members, was detrimental to the self-employed and small businesses in Catalonia was not due to the merits of the measure but to the fact that it was "practically her political survival." The CIS (Central Statistics Institute) reflects how Díaz's popularity has been declining since June 23, when 12.2% of respondents chose her as their preferred option to lead the Spanish government. In the September poll, the poll found her at 4.8%, which is far from that peak, but represents an improvement of almost one point compared to July. The budget negotiations and next year's regional elections will once again test her project and her battered leadership skills.