• Podemos, Izquierda Unida coalition falls far short of ‘sorpasso’ strategic goal
• Podemos’ Pablo Iglesias says coalition partners to launch analysis of failure
Questioned by reporters as to why the Unidos Podemos electoral coalition failed in its strategy of a dramatic sorpasso surge to overtake the Socialist party (PSOE) in the 26th June general elections and become Spain’s leading left-wing opposition force, coalition leader Pablo Iglesias was reserved in his remarks Sunday night, telling reporters simply that “the results were not what we expected – we had other expectations” and promising that coalition partners would immediately launch into an analysis of what went wrong.
After breaking off coalition talks with the Socialists and centre-right Ciudadanos party following the inconclusive 20th December general elections, Iglesias opted to run his Podemos (We Can) party in the second-round balloting on Sunday in coalition with the left-wing Izquierda Unida (IU, United Left) party, reportedly over the objections of Podemos’s number-two leader Íñigo Errejón, long an opponent of left-wing amalgamated ‘united front’ coalitions as confusing and counterproductive to Podemos’ transversal, cross-party election strategies.
Accompanied by a dour assembly of Podemos Unidos colleagues on Sunday night, Iglesias told the media that he continues to reach out to the Socialist party to try and reach agreement that would lead to a progressive coalition government and said he had already sent a mobile message to PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez asking to begin talks as soon as possible. (See a video of Iglesias’ comments, below.)
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