• Podemos sheds ‘transversal’ strategy for left-wing ‘broad front’ approach
• ‘Unidos Podemos’ becomes ‘alphabet soup’ of 16 different parties, coalitions
The Unidos Podemos leftwing electoral alliance for the upcoming 26th June general election (26-J) that was announced last week by Podemos and Izquierda Unida (IU) has mushroomed into a veritable “alphabet soup” of political groups on the Spanish left in a marked departure from the less-partisan “transversal” electoral strategy mapped out by Podemos leader Íñigo Errejón for the 20th December (20-D) first round of balloting, which failed to give any political party an absolute majority in Congress.
In forming the alliance, the two parties’ leadership agreed to invite others to join and their invitation has so far been accepted by at least 14 additional, mostly regional parties, platforms, movements and coalitions — from Por Un Mundo Más Justo (P+J), Pirates de Catalunya and EUPV, to Zaragoza en Común , Aragón en Común , Més per Mallorca (Més) , Anova , Equo, ICV and EuiA, to name a few — some of which are in danger of losing their party registration for poor showings at election time and most of which have never won a seat in Congress in national elections.
Podemos’ shift in strategy marks a 180-degree turnabout for Podemos, which has jettisoned last year’s less-ideologised and more “transversal” 20-D electoral strategy designed by Errejón to appeal to a broad swathe of the electorate and to siphon centre-left votes from Spain’s mainstay left opposition Socialist party (PSOE). Errejón’s influence over the party’s direction is seen to have become steadily eroded since an internal crisis in March ended with party leader Pablo Iglesias sacking Errejón ally and the party’s number-three leader, Sergio Pascual.
► Read More in Spanish at El Confidencial and El Mundo …
