Internal Polls Lead Izquierda Unida to Distance Themselves From Yolanda Díaz

The most progressive sector of Izquierda Unida has led its general coordinator Antonio Maíllo and its parliamentary spokesperson Enrique Santiago (who is also the general secretary of the PCE) to distance themselves from Yolanda Díaz, who according to some polls handled by the coalition is "written off."

The second vice president and Minister of Labor is labeled as a "political corpse" in some IU circles despite the fact that this week she will regain momentum thanks to the Council of Ministers approving this Tuesday the reduction of the workweek to 37.5 hours.

Not even this historic step seems to be enough to prevent, according to polls handled by IU, the Movimiento Sumar without alliances from obtaining less than 2% of the vote and falling behind the controversial platform Se Acabó la Fiesta by Alvise Pérez.

IU's Shift

The IU family celebrated April 14, will do the same on May 1, and in between has broken some ties with Díaz, whom the PSOE has allowed to score some points like the non-taxation of the Minimum Professional Salary (announced by the socialists hours before the Sumar Movement Assembly began) or the cancellation of a 5 million euro arms contract provided by Israel  (which comes at the same time that Díaz turns a blind eye to the rearmament dictated by President Pedro Sánchez and valued at 10 billion euros that won't even go through Congress).

Podemos is pushing from the left to the concern of IU, which explained next weekend that either there is a coalition similar to the one carried out in 2023 or it will run alone. This announcement has been taken as a "bluff" by the purple formation, which doubts the character of Maíllo's group and the truthfulness of their threat to leave the Government.

IU has stated that it desires the establishment of a "historic bloc" without cross vetoes or monarchical elections of the candidate, clearly referring to Díaz's refusal to undergo primaries in 2023.

No Urgency

Izquierda Unida wants to help create a Broad Front of left unity. They assert that "reaching electoral agreements five minutes before the deadline is a guarantee of failure." Their specific proposal is for a "historic bloc" based on "unity of action," and not so much on shared organic structures, that is "clearly transformative and anti-capitalist."

"We consider, first of all, that the unitary objective must go beyond the electoral and progressively consolidate greater unity of action. We know that what is decisive is social mobilization. The unity of action of class unions is a good model," says the document approved this Saturday by IU.

"These years, in which IU has been part of the Unidas Podemos or Sumar coalitions, we have learned that without an emancipatory political program, without mutual recognition between organizations, democratic decision-making methods, shared spaces of political direction, shared visibility, territorial and political decentralization, or without unity of action, there is no transformative capacity, nor incorporation of people into organized spaces, nor the ability to spark mobilization," the text adds.

Federal Coordinator

Izquierda Unida held a monographic meeting of its Federal Coordinator to conclude the federal debate process on alliance policy. This meeting came after the cancellation of the ammunition contract with Israel, which continues its genocide against the Palestinian people.

"You can't arm or finance the terrorist entity of Israel that commits genocide against the Palestinian people. Nor can you breach agreements within the Government, contravening the resolutions of the International Court of Justice in The Hague," IU asserted.

Alberto Cubero Puts Maíllo and Santiago in a Tight Spot

The Zaragoza councilor and 2022 aspirant for the general secretary of the PCE Alberto Cubero has compromised the IU leadership. The councilor explained this Saturday in statements to El Mundo that he doubted the coalition would leave the Executive.

"In the morning, Izquierda Unida proposed a possible exit from the Government, which is what must be done, and in the afternoon realpolitik prevailed, the inertia to keep in the Government and  the inability to imagine a future outside of it. However, I believe that, beyond the change that may occur in our position, the main change of opinion has been in the PSOE, because they had always said that they would not buy or sell arms to Israel and it ended up happening," he asserted.

Cubero laments that in recent years "in the parties to the left of the PSOE, the coalition government has been seen as a goal and an end in itself, in addition to the thought that now it can't survive without it."

Errejonism, Carmenism, and Yolandism

A sector of Podemos desires the recomposition of Unidas Podemos, which would mean reuniting with IU and Catalunya en Comú. But they doubt the courage of both formations to leave the boundary marked according to Pablo Iglesias by the enemies of the purples.

Carmenism, errejonism, and yolandism, so well treated by groups like Atresmedia (which doesn't have a single panelist sympathetic to Podemos), complicate the reconfiguration of the left. Some grievances that pablism has with Izquierda Unida, the Comunes in Catalonia, or Compromís in the Valencian Community also do so.

The creation of Sumar, led by Yolanda Díaz, seemed like a turning point. However, the way its launch was organized and the subsequent negotiation of lists for the 2023 elections caused resentment in sectors of Podemos, who accused Díaz of excluding the party from key decisions. The veto of Irene Montero on the lists and the yolandism's refusal to grant a ministry to the party to which she owed the vice presidency raised blisters.

In addition to the confrontation between Sumar and Podemos, there are other actors seeking their place on the left. This is the case of progressive regionalist parties, or ecological and municipalist formations.  This multiplicity of projects has caused a struggle for political space that doesn't have an easy solution.

President Pedro Sánchez knows that he will only have one option to repeat the miracle in 2027 if there is a union to his left. The PSOE wants to act as glue, although the positions of 2 people who formally do not lead their spaces but do so de facto (Díaz and Iglesias) seem antagonistic today.