The Spanish left (and also the Valencian left) watched closely yesterday what was happening at the Magariños Sports Center in Madrid where the Second Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, officially announced her intention to stand in the next general elections.
The leadership of Esquerra Unida, headed by its general coordinator, Rosa Pérez Garijo, and an important representation of Compromñis, with the mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, number two for Valencia, Maria Josep Amigó, and Minister Isaura Navarro. It is worth highlighting the preferential place, in the front row, where the mayor was placed, together with the mayoress of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and the Más Madrid candidate for the presidency of the region, Mónica García.
And not only that. In his speech, Díaz dedicated a few words to him and thanked him for "turning Valencia into a sustainable city and giving the best of himself". A first campaign act?
On the contrary, complying with the guidelines of the party (yes, there were representatives of other autonomies that broke them) the leaders of Podem were not there.
Sources from the purple formation explained the reasons: "We can and Podem do not attend because the primaries have not been accepted. Negotiations will continue. Sumar does not appear in regional and municipal elections, there is a lot left for the general ones."
The problem for the purple ones is that in less than two months there are regional elections and everything that is happening at the national level, with the evident discrepancies between Podemos and Vice President Díaz, can have repercussions. An image of disunity and continuous anger that will hardly help electorally. Along these lines, Díaz's good harmony with Compromís can hurt them at the polls.
However, in Podem they believe that they have "a capacity for resistance far superior to any other party on the left." In this line, despite the tensions experienced, they have survived - "they have given us up for dead many times" -, so not being with Díaz now will not harm them.
It is not the vision that they have in Compromís that they emphasize that the image of a mess that has been transferred these days will harm their partners as well as political rivals. They emphasize that these organic issues cover up the work carried out by Unides Podem. On the contrary, they indicate, "the fact that Compromís does not participate in the fight in Madrid" can help clarify the undecided vote. If we add to this the fact that Díaz, in the second acknowledgment of him, quotes Joan Ribó, much better.
In this context. It remains to be seen what position Yolanda Díaz takes in the autonomous elections since, although Sumar does not appear on 28M, the truth is that the presence of her leader in some act of the Valencian campaign may be highly valued.
If we look at the survey work that Compromís has done and that this newspaper has published -Podem does not do so because it understands that it is a poll on the part-, it is observed how the purples, even with the pact with Esquerra Unida, may have problems reaching the electoral barrier. To have representation in the Valencian Parliament, you have to exceed 5% of the votes and, in the current photo, they comment from the Valencian coalition, Unides Podem "would be more outside than inside". In fact, although the possibility of reissuing the Botànic, without the third leg, is not ruled out, the truth is that the study underlines that the entry of Podem and the EU is one of the keys to the next 28M.
And that there is agreement between the two political forces that yesterday avoided sharing the stage at the Magariños with Yolanda Díaz. Despite this, and despite the pessimism shown last week by Esquerra Unida, in Podem, yesterday they took it for granted that there would be an agreement.
It cannot take long because the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, will call the regional elections today and the deadline for registering the coalitions will close on April 14. In the vast majority of autonomies, this agreement between Podemos and IU is already closed, but not in the Valencian Community, despite the urgency that grips its two protagonists and, also, the Valencian left.
