• Podemos faces deadline Tuesday to sort situation with coalition partners •
New-left, anti-austerity party Podemos is struggling against a deadline today to avoid a rift with regional coalition partners Compromís (Valencia), En Común Podem (Catalonia) and En Marea (Galicia) over their demands for separate caucus groups in Congress to give greater presence to each of the groups’ regional political agendas.
As a prelude to the Dec. 20th general election campaign, regional leaders Monica Oltra of Compromís and Ada Colau of En Común Podem fought off internal objections to forming coalitions with Podemos with pledges to their bases that Podemos would allow each to form its own separate congressional caucus group, but opposition since from all other parties based on precedent and a rules technicality in the lower house have stymied those plans and led Podemos to suggest a single “co-federal” group with rotating spokespersons and shared leadership.
The Valencian newspaper Levante-EVC reports that Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias managed to scuttle a move on Monday by the dissatisfied Compromís group to abandon the Podemos coalition and form a separate causus group with Podemos’ rivals on the left, Izquierda Unida (IU). Barcelona daily La Vanguardia reports that the Socialists (PSOE) have indicated privately that they may find acceptable Iglesias’ proposal for a co-federal group, which appears to be the last option available short of a complete rift in Congress between Podemos and its election partners.
► Read the Full Story in Spanish at Levante-EVC …
► Read the Full Story in Spanish at La Vanguardia …
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