“The President knows that I can’t do it alone“. These are the words of a prominent member of the government to refer to the minority, but key, role that Sumar must play for the future of the progressive coalition. In other words, that Pedro Sanchez He cannot secure Moncloa alone, without a strong ally who unites the entire political space to his left.
In this context, the analysis made from the offices of Moncloa is that Yolanda Diazsecond vice president and leader de facto de Sumar, will not last as such for the three long years that remain in the legislature. If it does not, logic suggests that the left-wing coalition will not be able to repeat the electoral results, much less improve them, and help the PSOE to revalidate the government.
In Moncloa, they have been planning the future of the left for weeks and are already turning to the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasunas a possible political replacement for Sumar to prevent him from disappearing. At the very least, to prevent the “bad image” that Díaz is beginning to project to the electorate from permanently tarnishing the party alliance.
Pedro Sánchez himself, says a close collaborator, has been betting on Urtasun for some time. This is the only way to explain that it was he and not Vice President Díaz who negotiated and presented the call. Action Plan for DemocracyThis is what all the Government’s action will be based around for the rest of the legislature. Likewise with the next General State Budgets.
Urtasun, moreover, was one of the two in charge of contacting the parliamentary groups of the Congress and obtaining their support for the “democratic regeneration.” Throughout the summer, and even more so with the disappearance of Yolanda Díaz, it was the face visible of the coalition, and continues to be so every Monday as Sumar’s spokesperson.
Reconstruction
On the socialist side of the government, they believe that the coalition to their left must “recover Podemos“and forget the past quarrels, which would be impossible with Díaz at the helm. Both because of his record and his lack of leadership. In the leadership of Sumar’s parties, for their part, they prefer not to speculate, but they understand that the project they founded is close to disappearing.
“The coalition no longer exists, it doesn’t make sense like that and how it was created,” this person recalls. The idea of the Sumar coordinator was in fact to organize a congress after the summer to reorganize the leadership of the coalition; but this meeting is always postponed because the parties do not want to participate.
The reason, they explain, is that Sumar was born in 2023 as “an umbrella” so that many different parties could have a common project throughout Spain. That and being able to take advantage of Yolanda Díaz as a candidate in the general elections at a time when the vice president was highly valued.
Now, neither is true and Sumar is no longer the “big house” on the left of the PSOE. Four parties – Podemos, Compromís, Chunta and Mès – that had presented themselves at 23-J under Díaz’s wing are already absent, and the three remaining – Más Madrid, Izquierda Unida and Comunes – you can’t even see them.
The idea right now is not to break up, but yes stop collaboratingNone of the sources consulted consider the coalition to be stable and evoke a future in which the parties will have to negotiate among themselves at each election, but without having a collegiate leadership.
The reality is that each party is already measuring the scenario internally, assessing its possibilities and making its own electoral calculations without taking into account the others.
Furthermore, both within the alliance and within the PSOE, it is considered that, to a large extent, all this rupture with the old space for change it’s a good part Diaz’s faultAt the very least, for not having been able to control internal dissensions or adjust the different sensitivities of the coalition.
empty shell
Regarding the diagnosis issued by the Government, a nuance must be made.
Sánchez believes that the disappearance of Sumar, at least with his initials, is inevitable, as is the Political death of Yolanda Diaz before or after. The analysis is that the coalition was born as an empty shell ideologically controlled by the vice president and organically by many different parties. If it is missing, the building collapses.
This possibility began to be raised after the European elections. Sumar then suffered his fourth consecutive electoral defeat in just four months, causing his resignation from all organic functions, but not from the government or the presidency of the parliamentary group, where power resides. A close collaborator then defines the movement as “get rid of a brown”.
This impression, which Diaz confirmed last week in an interview with The countrybecomes even more painful now that his collaborators interpret that he “does not take responsibility” for the results. When asked how the left could do more than the PSOE to survive and be electorally effective, his answer could not be clearer.
“It’s not my problem.”
