The crisis caused around Íñigo Errejón shook Sumar into a difficult period, but it also coincided with three factors that made it easier to overcome. At the very least, sweep it under the rug. Firstly, that the dismissal-resignation took place on the eve of a weekend; secondly, that the following week it was totally overshadowed by the damage that occurred in Valencia; and thirdly, that at present there is no parliamentary activity. However, it is time to rebuild.
The party led by Yolanda Díaz in government has been considering since her resignation how to solve the puzzle of an increasingly divided parliamentary group, with new distribution of commissions and with a position, that of spokesperson, long coveted. In just 15 months, the elected official will be the third person to occupy it.
Because if the group is clear about one thing, it’s that they want Errejón’s replacement to be a woman. And even if the natural replacement would be the current parliamentary co-spokesperson, Aina Vidal, the coalition – and in particular the vice-president – is looking for another candidate, the deputy Véronique Martinezas a likely substitute. The decision will be made definitively this Tuesday.
Representative of Pontevedra, Martínez is president of the Social Rights Commission of the Congress, the only parliamentary body that Podemos chaired before leaving the Plurinational Group and moving to the Joint Group. Close collaborator of Díaz, she was general director of the Ministry of Labor During the previous legislature he was spokesperson for the branch and held the first vice-presidency of two other commissions, Justice and the Pact of Toledo.
Despite everything, and unlike what happened with Errejón or his predecessor, Martha Loisthe election of Sumar’s new voice to Congress will not be done through the usual channels. It will not be vertical and has not been planned in advance, even if his name was already mentioned last summer as co-spokesperson, but rather it will be “more democratic” between all the allies of the coalition.
The sources consulted agree that the group must decide on a new “mode” of election, given that “the balance of power has changed” since the last nomination of new positions in Congress. However, they also recognize that the coalition agreement signed in 2023 continues to give Movimiento Sumar – the party to which Díaz and Martínez belong – the grace to elect the spokesperson to Congress.
Even though almost everyone agrees that the new face of Congress must be a woman, in United Left (IU) believe that the conditions are not yet met to choose a replacement. Before, they mention from the party, it is necessary to “reorganize the parliamentary group” and “reassign the functions” in the commissions that Errejón left vacant, such as that of spokesperson for the Constitutional Court and member of the Permanent Deputation.
Europe Press
Rebalancing
To understand the weak balance of power between the parties, we must go back to the day after 23-J. After the general elections, Sumar began to distribute different responsibilities between the groups that then made up the space. This includes Caneven if the purples felt slighted. Also IU, who has become the most combative voice within the coalition.
The spokesperson in Congress was then assigned to Marta Lois, which did not please some partners because she was an unknown and inexperienced person whose only political guarantee was to be loyal to Yolanda Díaz. When Lois left office to run in the 18-F Galician elections and Errejón replaced her, the gesture was once again interpreted as an authoritarian move.
With Errejón promoted to spokesperson and Podemos outside the parliamentary group, IU was once again excluded from the casting, which was not understood from the inside. Especially because the vice president has repeatedly ruled out giving a deputy spokesperson to Enrique Santiago, who continues to be one of the most active deputies in the coalition.
Finally Santiago received a position in the Permanent Delegation, another in the direction of the group and a alternate spokespersona position that is not very relevant but which allows for initiatives.
However, the unrest resumed on the election night of 9-J, when the Izquierda Unida candidate fell to fourth place on the lists and was left without a seat. This caused the party to stay for the first time outside of the European Parliament.
It should be added to this that, when the coalition government was formed, IU risked finding itself without occupying any ministry, since it had initially been proposed that Sumar would only be responsible for fourinstead of five. Ultimately, there were five, but Sira Rego was relegated to a smaller portfolio, such as Youth and Children.
