The promises outlined by Sumar and Podemos to look ahead and overcome the notorious breakdown of the coalition pact they signed in view of the general elections of last 23J collide with the struggle for the distribution of blame. And both seem entangled due to the concept of "transfuguism" with which those of Yolanda Díaz accuse the purples while those of Ione Belarra deny having incurred any infraction.
The two press conferences offered by their respective spokespersons this Monday in Madrid have pivoted on this discussion, particularly on the third addendum to the anti-transfuguism pact. From Sumar, Ernest Urtasun understands that said addendum "establishes very clearly what transfuguism is." And he adds that running for an election for a coalition and then abandoning it "without giving up the seat" is included in this category.
Sumar refers to the section of the aforementioned text that states that "turncoats are understood to be the local, regional and state representatives who, betraying the political subject (political parties, coalitions or groups of voters) who presented them to the corresponding elections, have abandoned it, have been expelled or deviate from the criteria established by their competent bodies".
Urtasun understands, therefore, that "it is the people of Podemos who will have to decide whether his departure to the mixed group is transfuguism or not" to act accordingly, but in his opinion "the spirit and letter" of the addendum "are clear ". "Transfuguism cannot in any case be rewarded in this country", he has added without room for half measures.
Podemos, for its part, understands that the decision to abandon the coalition and the Sumar parliamentary group is that of the political party and not of individual deputies. Therefore, he rejects any accusation of transfuguism.
To this end, its national spokesperson, Pablo Fernández, argues his position in the following paragraph of the aforementioned legal text, which reads as follows: "The person elected by a candidacy promoted by a coalition will also be considered a turncoat; if he abandons, he is separated from the discipline." or is expelled from the coalition political party that proposed its incorporation into the candidacy, even if it ends up in another party or coalition space, without the consent or tolerance of the party that originally proposed it."
Therefore, he has emphasized that the departure of the representatives of the purple party to the Mixed group differs substantially from the case of the former Unidas Podemos deputy Meri Pita in the previous legislature and who was branded a turncoat by the state leadership, given that there the exit of the parliamentary group (also to go to the Mixed) was an "individual" decision and contravened the criteria of the political organization to which he belonged.
The discussion does not seem to be concluded quickly. The text is subject to various interpretations, as was already the case when the PP decided to abandon the anti-transfuguism pact by resolving in 2021 that the Ciudadanos deputies who entered the PP Government in Murcia were turncoats.
In that sense, Sumar sources admit their doubts about the possibility of denouncing the initiative of the Podemos deputies to the anti-traffic pact. In the confederal space they insist on wanting to turn the page as soon as possible and fear that the complaint, apart from not entailing concrete benefits for their interests, will entangle the space on the left of the PSOE for several weeks.
