Left union ‘key’ to prevent PP-VOX government

Left-wing parties Sumar and Unidas Podemos will ally and are eyeing to join forces with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE to avoid a future government of centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) and the far-right party VOX (ECR), according to Yolanda Díaz, Spanish labour minister and prime minister candidate with the progressive platform Sumar, and Unidas Podemos’ Secretary General, Ione Belarra.

“There will be an agreement (Sumar-Podemos) because Spain is waiting for us… I am an optimistic woman, and there will be an agreement without a doubt”, Díaz told the press on Friday.

Sumar and the junior coalition member in the socialist-led government, Unidas Podemos (EU Left), are negotiating against the clock to forge a coalition if the left camp wants to avoid a future government of centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) and the far-right party VOX (ECR), in case the PP does not obtain the absolute majority in July.

Meanwhile, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has decided to postpone any internal debate on future alliances with VOX in order not to “jeopardise” its chances to win the fight nor to “contaminate” its campaign with too radical messages.

However, after last week’s elections, both forces would have to negotiate at the local level if they want to oust the PSOE from the governments of many autonomous communities and town halls, among them Toledo, Guadalajara, Burgos and Valladolid, Spanish media reported.

Although Díaz conveyed an optimistic message about a quick agreement in the left camp, she put the responsibility of deciding whether to go and how to go on the (likely shared) lists (Podemos-Sumar) on the shoulders of both sides’ negotiators.

In need of bold decisions

Given the many stumbling blocks in the negotiations and asked by journalists if there is room for everyone in Sumar, Díaz said such a question would have to be “put to each and every person”, noting that this was why she would not reveal the current state of the negotiations.

But the left camp needs to take bold decisions to avoid a PP-VOX government.

Indeed, PP is now polling at 34.2%, a score that would give the party 144 seats in parliament following the elections – 55 more than its current 89 – according to a fresh study published by El Mundo, Onda Cero reported.

Together with VOX, PP could form an absolute majority even if VOX is currently predicted to have 33 seats if elected today, a 19-seat loss compared to the 2019 general election.

For PSOE, the poll predicts it would have the backing of 25.7%, making it the second parliamentary force if elected today – a score that would give the party 99 seats, 21 less than in 2019.

Socialists warn about Podemos’ disappearance

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Unidas Podemos and Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra accused PSOE and PP on Saturday of wanting to restore the two-party system so that nothing changes “in the power structure”.

Unidas Podemos has governed to promote citizen’s rights and social justice “against the privileges of those at the top from the government (PSOE)”, Belarra tweeted Saturday.

“The PSOE and the PP have firmly proposed the restoration of the two-party system” that allowed “nothing to change in the power structure of our country”, the minister lamented.

Belarra’s tweet came after Economy Minister Nadia Calviño, who has avoided self-criticism for the catastrophic results of the PSOE in last week’s regional elections, commented on the Spanish public television RTVE that Unidas Podemos was on the brink of disappearing from the Spanish political arena.

“Sunday’s results, frankly, what they reflect is the disappearance of (centre-liberal) Ciudadanos (Citizens) and Podemos, the two parties that – in the Minister’s view – surged after the great financial crisis (2008-2009), and the transfer of VOX’s results to the regional and local level”, she said.

Otto von Bismark and Pedro Sánchez

For this reason, Calviño pointed out that in the run-up to 23 July, Spanish voters should remember that “a vote that is not for the PSOE is a vote for a potential coalition of the PP and VOX”.

On the other hand, the PP general coordinator, Elías Bendodo, said Saturday that Spain would not resist another term of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his way of governing, what the party has named “Sanchismo” – a jab at his “presidential” way of ruling.

Spain “is such a strong country that it has endured five years of hard Sanchismo”, Bendodo stressed, warning that “it is not strong enough to last nine years (two terms of Sanchez)”.

“(Otto von) Bismark (1871-1890) said that Spain is the strongest country in the world because we have been attacking ourselves for centuries and we have never managed to destroy ourselves, but Bismarck did not meet Pedro Sánchez”, Bendodo said in a speech at the PP executive committee meeting in Marbella (Andalusia).

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)